The Symbols of Power
by The5Pieces
Summary: The Big Three: Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. The most powerful gods. Why is that? Their symbols of power. The master bolt, the trident and the helm of darkness allow them superiority over the Olympians, so what happens when those are taken away and entrusted to their children to defeat an old foe that has returned stronger than before? Can the unknown defeat the undying?
1. Chapter 1

I recently found out why my life has been one weird occurrence after another. My dad isn't really my dad, my brothers and sister are only half related to me and I seem to shock everyone who touches me. This is how I found out who I really am. This is how I saved my father, my family, and the world. My name is Allan O'Riley, and I'm going to decide the fate of the world, but I just don't know it yet.

"Allan! Get your ass up bud, you're going to miss your bus if you sleep any longer... And for God's sake, spray some air freshener in here, it stinks!" Comes the voice of your older brother.

"Get out of my room... And I've already told you, that's just how I smell, clean or not, I can't change it." I say as I drag myself out of bed so I can get ready for school.

My day seems like it's going to be just as uneventful as the last, with the exception of last Tuesday, that day I had an eagle fly up and land on my outstretched arm while I was talking to my friends. Oddly enough, I was talking about how hard it is to train birds, so my friends were pretty freaked out when a wild bird acted like a trained pet around me. I thought I heard the bird say something when it clicked it's beak, but it quickly dipped it's head and took off again. I tried to explain my encounter with the eagle, but I just couldn't say why it acted like it did.

"Hurry up slow poke, the bus will be here any moment!" I hear my father call from downstairs.

"Coming." I reply.

I quickly grab a pair of jeans and a tee shirt from my favorite punk band, as well as my black leather jacket while I put on my socks before quickly jumping into the bathroom in the hall. I take a look in the mirror and see myself staring right back. My jet black hair looked like I just got hit by a hurricane. I take a good look and see that it looks a bit messy, but it doesn't look bad either. A sort of, messy but unique looking. My eyes are as bright and blue as you could possibly imagine, kinda like the sky, only... More electric like. I quickly brush my teeth and turn out the light, but as soon as I flip the switch, the bulb explodes and sends glass across and into the shower.

"Mom! The bulb broke again!" I call out.

"Again? I guess I'll have to go pick up some more." She calls back.

I head down the stairs three at a time, yet my steps were still very light. My father and mother are sitting drinking coffee and watching tv while my siblings finish their breakfast.

"Do you want some-"

"No time dad, gotta go!" I say as I grab a piece of toast from my older brother's hand and run out the door.

I glance up and down the road and see your bus turning the corner a few blocks down. I know I missed the bus, but I'm not about to skip a school trip, even if it is boring, so I adjust the straps on my backpack and take off running. As I run, I feel like the wind shifts direction and pushes against me from behind to speed me up while I chase after the bus. I see the light turn red ahead of me and cars starting to cross the road, so I do what any normal kid would do and keep running straight through the intersection. When I reach the road, the last car is crossing, so I take a running jump and clear the car completely. I didn't even go over the hood or anything, I went straight over the middle between the doors. I stumble a bit as I land but I quickly regain my balance and keep running. I turn a few corners and soon see the bus ahead of me. I quickly catch up as the bus stops at a red light and knock on the door so the driver can open it and let me on.

"Missed my stop, sorry." I tell the driver as I climb aboard.

I take my seat at the back of the bus next to my friends as the bus starts back up and takes us onwards.

"Damn you're fast! You caught up that quick? Must be those new shoes you got." My friend jokes.

"Or I'm just fast." I reply.

"Or that. So, Toronto, how do you think the trip will go?" He asks.

"It had better be good!" My one girl friend says. "I'm just going to take off and shop if it gets boring."

"I hope we go to the C.N. Tower, I haven't been there since I was little." My other friend says.

I just sit in between my friends as they talk back and forth about what they want to do once we reach Toronto. Me and my best friend are absolutely going to the C.N. Tower and I'm certainly going to do the edge walk around the top of the tower. I can just imagine the view and the feeling of the wind at 1,800 feet in the air. I almost slip into a daydream until the bus quickly stops and my face goes into the seat in front of me. When I sit back up, I hear the driver saying things about a "stupid dog" and how he could have hit it. That's when I look outside and see the dog, and I'm surprised at how the driver didn't hit it. The "dog" was six feet tall and had a face the size of my tv at home. It catches my eye as the bus passes and it starts to growl at me before we turn off the road and on to the highway. I see the "dog" snarl a little more before bounding of down the road and out of sight.

"Did you guys see the size of that dog? It was massive!" I say to my friends."

"Dude, your vision okay? It was tiny, thin that is. It must have been a stray."

"It was taller than I am!" I say back.

"Uh... No. It was small bro, it wouldn't even reach up to my waist." He tells me.

I became perplexed at what I saw and how my friends didn't see what I think I seen. I tell my friends that I need some fresh air, so I head up the rows of seats to where the open windows are behind the driver. I plunk myself down in an empty seat and put my head back as the breeze from the window blows across my face. The wind seemed to clear my mind and allow me to think properly about what I just saw. The thing I saw was as big as a hummer and about as scary as the monsters in a kid's nightmare. It looked into my eyes and it looked angry, like it wanted to attack me. Whatever it was, I didn't like it.

"Hey kid." I hear the driver whisper over his shoulder.

"Hmm?" I reply.

"You saw that hellhound, right?" He asks.

"Uh... The what?" I ask.

"The hellhound. That huge black dog I nearly hit a few minutes ago, come to think of it, I probably should have, it would get rid of it for a while." He tells me.

"Um, yeah, I guess so. Why was it so big? It looked like a monster." I say.

"That's because it is. Now, unless you're just gifted at seeing through The Mist, then you're exactly who I thought you were. I would turn and bow, but I'm kinda driving a bus here." He tells me.

"Turn and- what the hell are you talking about? Monsters and mist? Are you high? I don't want a high bus driver." I reply.

"No no, I'll explain more once we reach the city, so try and keep your head and voice down. There's a reason why you saw what I saw and the others didn't, but I'll tell you more later." He says.

The next hour is spent by me putting the hood on my jacket up and my back against the window before I put my headphones in and listen to some music. Multiple other times during my trip, I glance out the window across from me and see an assortment of odd things. First was the woman in a passing car who had a forked tongue like a snake's, the next was a large figure far off in the passing trees, and lastly, what looked like sea lions in the lake next to the highway, Lake Ontario to be precise. The animals had the bodies of sea lions, but the heads of dogs. They kept staring at me whenever they surfaced, but the driver quickly told me not to look at them.

"Damn monsters are all over the place now... Go back to the pit you cretins." He said at one point.

"Um... Are we safe?" I ask.

"Not in the slightest." He replies.

"So... What do we do?" I ask.

"Well, with you on this bus, they'll be gathering to attack, so we've got to get away at some point... How is the real question though." He says.

"Whoa whoa, wait. They're after me? Why?" I ask.

"Give me a bit of time, then I'll explain. Here, take this and send a text to the first contact saying "Toronto bus terminal, emergency transport needed."" He says as he hands a cell phone over his shoulder to me.

I do as the driver asks and send the message before handing him back his phone. We soon arrive in the city of Toronto and pull into the terminal just as a black car pulls into the parking lot also. I see a man step out in a black suit, hat, and shades. He just stands at the door with his arms crossed as my bus stops nearby. As the driver opens the door, everyone on the bus stands up and starts to leave. I tell my friends that I'm going to stay in there for a bit, and I tell him to text me later. I see the man from the car start to wave at everyone on the bus as they get off, but what I really notice is what looks like a faint haze coming from the man's hand out over the crowd of students and my teacher. As soon as that haze went over them, the seemed to enter a slightly sleepy sort of state, but they soon left without saying another word.

"What just happened?" I ask the driver.

"Good old Argus over there just threw some Mist over your classmates to make them forget you even exist. That way, we can get you to camp without having them interfering and asking questions." He tells me.

"Wait, now they don't know me? And what camp?" I ask.

"Lots of questions, but I'll answer them in the car, now go." He tells me.

The man named Argus just looked at me through his shades before opening the back door of the car to allow me in. He gave a bow as I entered, which I found a little strange, but I just went with it. My bus driver quickly got in the front beside Argus and soon enough we're driving off down the road. I soon realized what I've just done. I just got into the back seat of a dark car with two people I really don't know, and now we're driving off towards some camp that I don't even know the location of.

"Okay, now answer me, I'm starting to get mad." I say forcefully.

"Okay okay, keep it cool. My name is Gerard and I've been tasked with protecting you for years. I bet you've seen me every now and again, but never really thought about it. I had to act a bit mystical back on the bus, but that was only to get your attention and to believe me. I've been able to smell you from 100 miles away, and you smell strong."

"Gee, thanks buddy." I hiss.

"No no, you don't stink, it's just the power you hold, it radiates off... Smells a bit like ozone, even the mortals can smell it." He says.

"Mortals? Aren't we all?" I ask.

"Well, technically yes, but there are some who aren't." He tells me.

"Oh yeah, who do you know who's immortal?" I ask.

"Plenty! Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Ares. You know about the gods right?" He asks.

"But they're just myths!" I reply. "You're not going to tell me that they're real are you?"

"Well... Yeah, they are. And wether you like it or not, you're a demigod. A child of a mortal and an immortal god. Do you know if it's your mother or your father?" He asks.

"Neither! Both my parents are at home or at work by now. I know neither of them are gods though." I reply.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but one of them isn't your real parent. I guess no one will know until you're claimed at camp." He says.

"Claimed? What camp?" I ask again.

"Camp Half-Blood. It's full of kids just like you. Half mortal, half god. You've got the bullying Ares kids, the nerdy Athena kids, that loner kid Nico... His dad is Hades... Yeah, creepy as his dad, that one. We'll train you at camp until your skills start to shine through, then hopefully you'll learn to use those skills until your parent claims you as theirs. Maybe your dad is Apollo, I like him, or maybe your mom is Aphrodite... Nah, you're not attractive enough." He says.

"Oh... My... God..."

"Gods."

"Whatever... Just... Let's get to this camp, where is it?"

"Long Island."

"New York? That's in The States! We'll have to cross the border, and I don't have my passport."

"No worries, Argus is pretty good with The Mist, so much so that we're coming up on the border right now." He tells me.

I look outside and see the scenery racing past the window at the speed a fighter jet would be traveling. I notice that I can still focus on everything outside as clearly as if we weren't moving at all.

"Yup, thanks to The Mist, we went from Toronto to the border in under twenty minutes. Pretty cool, huh?"

I see Argus wave his hand in front of him towards the oncoming border guards who simply step aside and allow us to fly past without even a second glance. Within another half hour, Argus pulls into a stretch of abandoned road before quickly stopping in front of a large hill topped by a magnificent pine tree. I step out of the car as I see a group of five approaching from over the hill. I see three normal looking people, two boys and a girl, as well as what looks like a half goat half human hybrid, as well as a... A centaur.

"Is this more of that mist stuff?" I ask as I rub at my eyes.

"Nope. I see that Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Grover and Chiron are here to welcome you. Better head over and say hi." He tells me.

"Welcome to Camp Half Blood! And who might you be young man?" The centaur asks me.

"Um... My name's Allan O'Riley... And I have no idea what is going on." I admit.

"He's strong, I can fell it." The one boy in all black whispers to the taller boy in a bright orange tee shirt.

"I'm strong? Not really..." I say.

"I whispered... You heard me?" He asks.

"Yeah, you weren't that quiet." I reply.

"He spoke to me, and I barely heard him... You must have good hearing." The older boy says.

"I'm Nico." The boy in black says. "And this is Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Chiron."

"Hello..." I say.

"Let's get you within the borders before we continue. We don't need monsters coming and attacking us while we sit and chat." The centaur Chiron says.

The group leads me over the hill and beyond an old stone archway with the name of the camp etched into the stone. I look down and see a large field with a multitude of small buildings of different sizes and shapes around a large fire pit in the middle. The 12 largest buildings formed a U shape around the fire with the smaller ones beyond them. Off to the side lays a massive forest and a large house just on the outskirts. I see some people in a training area fighting with swords and spears while other try and climb up a rock wall that continuously spewed lava at random locations.

"For the time being, you'll be staying in the Hermes cabin, that one right there. You'll only be there until your godly parent claims you, so don't get too comfortable, that is, unless your godly parent is Hermes." The girl Annabeth says to me.

"How will I know who my real parent is? I've grown up with both my parents my whole life, and now I'm faced with the fact that one of them isn't really my parent." I say.

"Well, first of all, you'll start to show certain traits that correspond with a certain god, like brute force and weapons expertise or skill with a bow, stuff like that. Then at some point or another, your parent's symbol will appear above your head and you'll move into their respective cabin." Grover tells me.

"Yeah, and hopefully your skills shine through soon. Tell me, do you have any special skills as is?" Chiron asks.

"Well... I run really fast." I say at a loss for words.

"Maybe Hermes it is. Anything else?" He asks.

"Not really... I don't know if this is a talent or not here, but if I want to, I can shock people pretty badly. Also, when I get angry or upset, it usually ends up raining... But I think that's just a coincidence, right?" I ask.

"Right, that can't possibly be anything more than coincidence." Nico says in a falsely confident voice.

As we reach the training areas, I lift up a stray sword and give it a few swings. The blade felt so natural in my hand and it went through the air so smoothly. It's almost like I was meant to use a sword.

"You're in luck, we play capture the flag once a month, and it's going to be this weekend, so you'll get to fight and swing that around all you like." Percy tells me.

"So who are your godly parents?" I ask the three demigods in front of me.

"Athena." Says Annabeth.

"Hades. Don't worry, I won't touch you and kill you like a reaper would." Nico says.

"Poseidon." Percy says. "And as it stands, Nico and I are the most powerful demigods in camp, so don't mess with us." Percy says with a wink.

"Pfft, you don't look so tough." I joke back. "I could take you any day."

"Maybe we'll hit the battle grounds later and test that theory." Percy tells me.

"Here's the Hermes cabin." Chiron tells M me. "Go in and make yourself at home. Lunch will be at the sound of the horn, so try not to be late."

I enter the cabin as the others head off towards the big house. I notice a few sleeping kids on bunks around the cabin, which was about as big as a gymnasium on the inside, but about as big as a normal cabin on the outside. Without anything to use to claim my bunk, I decide on one close to the door that receives a nice breeze through the window. A few people come and go and some even stop to introduce themselves and welcome me to camp. I'm starting to feel like this isn't all bad, all this gods and goddesses stuff. If this is true, one of my parents is a powerful immortal being who rules over some aspect of the world. I accidentally shock a few people as they stop to shake my hand, but I brush it off as the static I got from the carpet. After a little while of laying in my bunk, I get up and decide to go wander around outside. The climbing wall looks fun but deadly, the training area is full of big buff soldier looking kids, so that's a nope, and the woods looked quite imposing, so that's out of the picture. I decide to go over to the training area, but I don't get too close because the kids there look pretty mean.

"Yo, new kid, come on over." One of the big guys calls out to me.

Reluctantly, I walk over and stand in front of him as the rest circle around me. Soon I'm surrounded by twenty or so strong teenagers who are all carrying weapons of some kind. I see a strong looking girl work her way to front of the crowd, and when she got there, the rest of the kids backed off a few steps.

"Initiation, new kid. Rights of passage." She says as she levels her spear at my chest.

I see a currently of electricity spark off of the end and notice that this weapon might be enchanted to do so, something I wouldn't even have considered yesterday. I back up a few steps and grab an abandoned sword off a bench near me to defend against this girl who's threatening me with her spear.

"Bad move dude, Clarisse will mess you up." The first guy says.

I take a better stance as the girl Clarisse takes a quick swipe at me with her spear. Acting upon an instinct I never knew I had, I raise my sword and parry her spear head away from me. As my blade makes contact with her spearhead, a shower of sparks and a current of electricity courses through my sword and into my arm. I notice that my arm didn't feel any worse, in fact it actually feels better and stronger.

"Not a big enough shock, eh? Try this on for size." She says with another stronger jab.

I quickly sidestep and deflect her spear away again and feel the electricity jump from her spear into me. I don't know what kind of energy it's using, but it's making me feel stronger and faster. Clarisse takes a few more jabs and swipes until I again act on impulse and knock her spear away until I level my sword at her neck. I hear a collective gasp from the crowd and assume I did some good fighting since the rest of the guys back up from me some more.

"Those shocks should have sent you to the infirmary! How in Hades did you keep fighting? And how did you do so good? You're the new kid, you shouldn't be able to fight so well right away." She tells me.

"You little spear there? It's weak, I didn't feel a damn thing from it." I tell her.

I lower my sword and begin to walk away when I see the guys in front of me quickly getting out of the way. I turn just in time to dodge Clarisse's spearhead before grabbing onto the shaft and feeling the current travel through me again. I give Clarisse a quick kick to gut which sends her backwards into the dirt. I stick her spear into the ground and walk away before anyone else tries to kill me.

I start to think about why Clarisse's spear didn't electrocute me to death. Why did the electricity make me stronger? Which godly parent could bless me with that?... Hephaestus? No, that would be fire...

"Oh my gods... Did I just say "gods?"... Is my parent...? No way... It couldn't be..." I ask myself.

I don't even bother to consider the danger as I enter the forest. Hey, I feel great, plus I have a sword now, what could go wrong? I keep a keen eye on my surroundings as I delve deeper into the forest with my sword in your hand. I see some large masses moving in the distance, but nothing too close that I won't be able to outrun. As I walk, I see a particularly dark part of the forest just up ahead. It looked like the branches of the trees deflected almost all light from reaching the ground, since nothing was growing and it was almost too dark to see. There's a faint glow coming from the sword in my hand, which I thought was extremely weird, but I just held it out to try and illuminate my surroundings. As I come close to a clearing in the darkest part of the woods, I see an altar with dark blue flames glowing in the torches. As I work my way around through the trees, I come to see that there is a person kneeling at the altar presenting what looks like a cut open pomegranate. Then I hear a familiar voice from earlier and recognize it as Nico's. That makes sense because I now remember that Nico's dad was Hades and he was represented by the pomegranate. As I approach I accidentally step on a fallen branch and snap it, making a loud crack in the process. Without thinking, I leap to the side and duck behind a large boulder. I watch as I see Nico walk over to the branch and look around.

"Hello? Who's there?" He asks.

Not wanting to make him think I was spying, I remain silent and hope he just goes back to his altar. That's when I notice where I am. From where Nico stood at the broken branch and the boulder I now hid behind, it must have been about thirty feet. I couldn't have jumped that far in one go, and it only felt like a small lunge to the side. How could I possibly have gone so far so quickly and quietly? Nico took a few more seconds to look around before packing up his things at the altar and heading out into the woods. When I'm sure he's far enough away, I stand up and try my jump again, this time with a little more effort. I take a few steps and launch myself forwards and into a tree, except I didn't hit the truck, I hit a branch ten feet off the ground. I cling to the branch to stop myself from falling before climbing up into the tree.

"Okay... I can jump pretty far...maybe Hermes can do that with his winged sandal things... Only... I don't have winged sandals on..." I say to myself.

"Let's try this again." I say as I stand near the end of the branch.

I steel my nerves and take a jump off the branch, but I stop myself before I can fall and hurt myself, except I'm not on the branch anymore. I take a look down and see that I'm ten feet off the ground with nothing below me to hold me up.

"What the... Am I-" I say before I drop the ground.

I land with a thud as my sword flys out of my hand and into a bush.

"Okay, I'm officially weirded out." I say as I walk over to the bush to retrieve my sword.

"I was just-"

"Flying? Yeah, you were." I hear from behind me.

My sword jumps the last few inches back into my hand as I spin around and find Nico leaning against a tree a few feet away. How did he know where I was?

"I knew someone was here, so I kept shadow walking all over the place until I found you. As I was walking, you jumped right over my head into that tree." He tells me nodding towards the tree I was in.

"Shadow walking?" I ask.

"I almost forgot that you were new here... Children of Hades can use the shadows to move undetected, that's how I like to get around, but it only works in the dark. Brightly lit places hurt my eyes though, so I don't like being in those places as much anyway. So, flying, that's pretty fun I guess. I'm guessing you've already figured out who your godly parent is?" He asks.

"Yeah... It's Zeus... By I have a dad at home, how can Zeus be my father?" I ask.

"My only answer is that your dad back home isn't really your dad, otherwise you wouldn't even be here right now." He tells me.

"Are there any other children of Zeus here at camp?" I ask.

"I only know of two others, one to be technical. Her name is Thalia, but she joined the Hunters of Artemis years ago and has been with them ever since, so she doesn't stay here at camp. Geez, I'm barely even here, I'm usually in the underworld with my father." He tells me.

"And who's the other one?" I ask.

"His name is Jason, he's Thalia's brother, but he's Roman, so he's staying at Camp Jupiter on the other side of the country. Looks like you're the only one who'll be here from now on." He tells me.

"Oh my gods... Damn it, I did it again... I really need to speak with my parents about this." I say to no one in particular.

"No need, Chiron already sent a message with one of our Hermes kids explaining the situation. They know you're safe and they also know why you're here, well your mom always knew, but your step dad didn't. Chiron will explain later, but for now, let's keep working on those flying skills, I want to see you be able to keep yourself up indefinitely." He suggests.

"Wait... If Zeus is my dad... That means that I must be really powerful, right? Doesn't that mean that I'll be a target for those monsters and stuff who'll want me out of the picture?" I ask.

"Well of course you're powerful, maybe even more so than Percy or myself. You'll be hunted by monsters your whole life, the only reason you haven't been killed yet is because your protector has been watching over you and taking care of the monsters whenever they show up. You remember your bus driver? Well he's actually a Satyr. He's been taking care of the monster for as long as you've been alive." He explains.

"Okay... Can you promise me something?" I ask.

"I'll swear on the River Styx that I will keep my promise." He replies.

"What?"

"It's how we say that we're true to our word, because if we swear on the Styx and break the promise, then we die."

"Oh... Well, don't tell anyone who I am until I'm ready, okay? When I'm good and ready, I'll make it known who I am, until then, keep it on the down low." I say.

"Deal." Nico replies.

"Okay then, uh... Where should we start?" I ask.

"Just try and concentrate on lifting yourself in the air. Children of Zeus have control over the winds and the weather, so imagine the air beneath your feet solidifying and lifting you upwards or in whatever direction you'd like." He instructs.

I take a few steps back and look downwards at my feet. I close my eyes and imagine myself rising slowly off the ground, and when I opened my eyes again I see that both my feet and the rest of my body was floating a few inches off the ground. Before I fall again, I concentrate on keeping myself up and in the air. I got overjoyed that my childhood dreams of actually flying are becoming a reality. I tried flying when I was little, but I only managed to jump off my shed and hit the ground pretty hard. I can remember that it took a little bit longer for me to start falling, but I never considered that I was starting to fly at such a young age. I look up at Nico who's staring at me with an impressed look on his face. For someone who looks like a walking skeleton, he sure looked pretty alive. I tried to move forwards by taking a few steps, but soon realized that to be pointless since there was nothing beneath my feet to step on. Then I remembered the way super heroes in movies moved when they were flying, so I lean forward and feel myself start to drift towards Nico.

"You're learning quick! Keep at it, you'll be like Superman in no time." He says.

I decide to take myself higher, so I look up and imaging that I'm rising, and before I knew it I'm up in the highest branches of the trees. Getting accustomed to moving when I'm flying is pretty hard to do, but it seems like second nature to me now that I'm actually doing it. I take myself just above the treeline and look around until I spot the camp in the distance. From where I stood... Floated, I can see the back of the big house and the cabins beyond that. I see people wandering about, going to and from the lake (which you see Percy having some fun in with some other campers) and also the training areas where I can see the same group of Ares kids jostling some other campers when I hear a horn ring out from the dining hall. I see the campers starting to make their way to the dining hall as Nico calls up from below. I lower myself in a classic super hero style but stop myself before I touch the ground, I want to keep flying for as long as possible.

"Come on, let's go get some lunch, then we'll come back and I'll start to train you to fight."

"I can already fight... I think. I knocked some girl named Clarisse flat about an hour ago." I tell him as I start to drift towards the edge if the woods with Nico following at my side.

"Really? Well I'm not surprised, us kids of the Big Three have naturally better skills than the other demigods. Percy took out Clarisse as well when he first got here, and I created an opening to the underworld to swallow some monsters that we chasing us a few years back, plus both Percy and I fought in the battle of New York as well as taking on Gaea, which I kinda helped with. You'll find that your instincts will take over during a fight, maybe with your skills you'll even use the winds to your advantage." He tells me.

"I haven't tried controlling the winds yet... Maybe now?" I ask.

"Nah, save it for later, or even tomorrow. We can have you call in a storm to practice your powers, that way we can train all we want and no one will be any the wiser." He says.

I finally stop my levitation act when we reach the edge of the woods. I touch down and follow Nico to the dining hall while he explains what you're to do at meals.

"You'll have to sit with the Hermes cabin until Zeus publicly claims you as his child, then you'll get your own table. Everyone walks past the fire and puts the best piece of food the have into the fire as an offering to the gods. In your case, I'd send a silent prayer to Zeus thanking him for your powers and hoping that he'll claim you soon. Then we just sit down and have our meals before going back to whatever we were doing." He explains to me.

I climb the few steps into the dining hall and join the line behind the other campers. I take a plate and start loading it full of baked potato, two steaks and some corn on the cob. As I pass the fire, I use my fork to lift the larger of the two steaks and toss it into the fire.

"To the gods." I say out loud and silently I say "and to Zeus, thank you... Father. If I could ask a favor, please claim me when I'm at my best around the other campers, I want them to see me in my best light. Thanks again father."

I leave and join the largest table in the room which Nico tells me is the Hermes table. Nico leaves and goes to sit at his own table, the smallest one in the room, only able to seat up to four people, but it didn't seam like he had anyone else in his cabin with him. A few of the people from the Hermes cabin earlier recognize me and start chatting, asking how my first day was going.

"Well, I got up this morning thinking I was only going to Toronto for a field trip, but now I'm in a camp full of demigod children I didn't know I was a part of." I tell them.

"Toronto? You Canadian?" One asks.

"Yup."

"Oh, cool, there's not many Canadians at camp, we're mainly all from the States. How'd you get here?" Another asks.

"Uh, I got to Toronto by bus with the rest of my class, but I immediately left with a guy named Argus and my bus driver who is apparently a satyr to come here. I've just been roaming around since." I lie a little at the end.

"I notice you had a sword earlier, where's you get it?" A girl asks.

I left my sword just outside the dining hall since I don't think it would be too nice to bring it inside with me.

"Oh, I got it off a bench over in the training area. I had to fight off some girl named Clarisse. She kept trying to run me through with her spear, so I side stepped, grabbed her spear and kicked her to the dirt before taking off."

"Wow... Didn't you get shocked from her spear?" The girl asks.

"Nope, I didn't grab the blade obviously." I tell her to try and hide the fact that I did actually get electrocuted, I'm just immune to it.

"How in Hades did you beat Clarisse? She's one of the best warriors we've got!" Another tells me.

"She wasn't so tough, you could probably take her on and win." I tell them.

"I have! She broke my shield with a single swipe from her spear, the electricity made my arm numb for a week! You must be a naturally good fighter then, maybe you're an Ares kid. If you are, it'll stop Clarisse from picking on you in the future." They say.

"Maybe I am..." I say as I continue to eat.

I quickly finish my plate as some of the other campers finish theirs and start to head back out into the camp grounds. I meet back up with Nico after I retrieve my sword and follow him back into the woods when no one is watching. I take to flying again as Nico leads me to a nice big clearing deep in the forest.

"Let's work on your sword play. If you're going to help your team win capture the flag this weekend, you'll need to be quick on your feet and swift with your sword." He tells me before turning and pointing to the ground.

Exactly where Nico points, a small fissure opens in the earth and several zombie like creatures crawl out in full Greek style weapons and armor. They just stand there while I freak out and Nico explains his training game plan.

"I'll keep summoning enemies and you're going to keep fighting. The enemies will keep getting harder and harder until you can't overwhelm them, at which point I'll clear them out and we'll head back to camp, you ready?" He asks.

"No." I reply truthfully.

"Good. Attack!" He says to the zombies.

As soon as Nico gave the order, the zombie warriors started advancing towards me. I raise your sword to defend yourself as the first soldier raises his to attack. I jump away from his swipe and hit him over the head with the pommel of my sword, causing him to fall down.

"Don't just injure your opponent, kill them! You need to kill the monsters who attack you, otherwise they'll kill you! Just make sure you don't kill any campers during capture the flag, we might just have to kick you out if you do." He calls over to me.

I raise my sword and bring it down on the zombie's neck, taking it clean off in a single swipe. As soon as his head fell off, his whole body, sword, armor and all disintegrated into a dull yellow poof of powder that quickly got blown away in the wind. I deflect the next attack and swipe my sword across the chest of the next causing him to disintegrate also. As quickly as I kill them, Nico keeps summoning them. The warriors keep getting better and better like Nico said. Soon the enemies were able to anticipate my attacks and deflect them also. I had to amp up my attacks to compensate for their improved tactics.

"Don't just rely on skill with your sword, use your powers to your advantage." Nico tells me.

I take aim at the next warrior and with a swipe through the air with my hand, the warrior gets sent flying backwards into a tree.

"Well done! You're really getting the hand of those wind powers. Try using your flying to your advantage." He says.

I take to the sky and start dive bombing the warriors until there's none left. The last one I actually run straight through with my sword before lifting him into the air with strength I didn't know I had. I used the winds to throw him into the air where he landed and exploded into a cloud of yellow powder on the far side of the clearing.

"Yeah!" I yell as a bolt of electricity shoots from the end of my sword and leaves a scorch mark on the ground.

"Let's practice the electricity tomorrow, okay? Then we'll focus on your flying. You're getting the hang of it, but we should make you a master by the weekend. Capture the flag might even be interesting with you in play." He tells me.

"Dude, this is so freaking cool! I feel like I could take on an army!" I tell him.

"Be that as it may, we don't need you to get cocky and expose your powers prematurely. Just save your big show for whenever you like, I kinda want to see how you do it." He says.

"I have an idea, but I'll have to think about it some more. If all goes well, I'll be able to pull off something major this weekend." I tell him.

"Well, whatever it is, try not to fry anyone with your electricity. Other than that, have at it." He says.

I thank Nico for the lesson and tell him that I'm going to take a few laps around the forest to get more used to flying. He reminds me not to get seen before turning and disappearing into the shadows. After he leaves, I take to the air and start off going away from the camp. I take a Superman stance and notice that it does actually help make the flying easier. I gain some speed from who knows how, I just will myself to speed up and I do. I'm soon going so fast that I'd easily outrun a sports car. I take myself a bit higher then allow myself to start to fall. I start flying again before I hit the tree tops and take off yet again. I keep looping around and around until flying becomes as easy as walking on my own two feet. Being in the air feels even more natural than being on the ground. The feeling of the wind on my face makes my mind as clear as the sky above my head. This is my domain, I have control here. My power over the sky is unrivaled by all but three others.

I look to the sky and raise my hands. I imagine some clouds starting to form and that's exactly what happens. I make them inconspicuous though, since the day had been super clear up until now, so I only make a few here and there. Then with all the speed I can muster, I rocket into the sky until I'm level with the clouds. Not knowing what to expect, I 'land' on one of the clouds. Surprisingly enough, I find that I can stand on the cloud and not fall through. I decide to sit and peer over the edge at the camp far below. I can barely see anything from as high up as I am, but I can make out the shapes of the cabins and the other notable landmarks of the camp. I stay up on my cloud sun bathing and relaxing until the sky starts to darken, which means it's pretty late, since the sun sets later the higher up you go. I look over the edge of my cloud and see long shadows across the forest and across the camp. I can see that someone has already tended to the campfire, since it's shining bright below me. I get up and stretch before taking a flying leap right over the edge of the cloud. I let myself plummet knowing that I have complete safety in the air. No one can see me because of the dark, so I fly myself over the forest until I'm at the edge of the camp. I quickly land and waltz out of the trees as some campers pass me by.

"That forest is dangerous new kid, be careful if you're going in there." The one person tells me.

"I brought a sword, don't worry." I tell them as I show them the sword in my hand.

"Okay then, we just don't want to have to come in after you because some hellhound made you their chew toy." They say before walking away.

I make my way to the dining hall and sit with the Hermes cabin again while I eat dinner before heading back to the cabin for some rest. I prop my sword against my bunk and climb into bed. Someone had come by and left some pajamas on the bunk, so I changed into those and quickly fall asleep.

The next two days are spent off and on from the woods with Nico to the lake, to the climbing wall and regularly in the dining hall. I even took my new skills to the arena to test against some other campers. I bested a few of them but I let some others win so I don't look too suspicious. My lessons with Nico only improved when I started using the winds and some electricity to defeat more opponents. Nico even stepped in and fought me one on one at one point to test how I've progressed. Me and him sparred for hours practicing my skills. Nico was only barely able to keep up with the speed of my attacks (thanks to the winds for helping me move faster) so that at one point I clashed swords and sent a shock through his arm making him drop his sword to which I leveled mine at his face. He congratulated me again as us two made our way back to the camp after a long day of training.

"We'll get you some better weapons and armor after capture the flag. Once everyone knows who you are, you'll be sure to get a few... gifts, like magical weapons and whatnot." Nico tells me.

"How will they be magical?" I ask.

"They'll transform from one thing into another. Take Percy for example, he has this pen that when he uncaps it it turns into his sword. His cyclops brother also made him a shield that transforms into a watch that he wears at all times. Stuff like that." He explains.

"Awesome... I like those ideas... Maybe I'll think of some for myself. Like, if I zip up my jacket, it turns into my armor." I tell him.

"That... Is actually a good idea..." He admits.

"Also, how do they transform? Surely it's not mechanical." I ask.

"Oh no, the smiths in the Hephaestus cabin are pretty good with The Mist. The mist is what hides the mystical from the ordinary, that's how a pen is actually a sword. If you were to start flying around a mortal, they'd probably think you had a jet pack on or something." He tells me. "Come to think of it, your powers should give you a very strong control over The Mist. Here, imagine that my sword is say, a cellphone. Imagine that really hard."

I watch as Nico pulls out his Stygian iron sword and holds it in front of me. I picture in my mind that he's just holding his cellphone, then I wave my hand and see that familiar haze come from my hand and envelope the sword. I see its shape start to waver, as if it were a hologram until all that was left in Nico's hand was a black flip phone. Certainly impressed with myself, I wave my hand again and disperse The Mist until Nico held his black sword once again.

"I should try and remember that, it'll help if I come into contact with mortals." I tell him.

"Usually you won't have to use The Mist, since the smiths put some pretty heavy layers on as they're forging weapons and armor out of an already magical substance called Celestial Bronze. That's what your current sword is made of, that's why it glows a bit in the dark." He explains.

"So that's why it cuts so smooth." I tell him. "It's a magical metal."

"Yup, you shouldn't worry about celestial bronze ever breaking or dulling much, since the magic in it makes it pretty hard to destroy once it's forged. Stygian iron on the other hand, well, let's just say it's made from the river Styx itself. One stab and a monster, or person's essence is literally ripped from their body... It's pretty fun to watch." He tells me.

"It doesn't sound fun." I say.

"It is for a child of the underworld. I'm more powerful around death, so I like it when stuff dies." He says.

"Anyway, when will capture the flag be tomorrow, I want to practice a bit more." I ask.

"It'll be later in the evening this time. I guess I get a bit of an unfair advantage though, so don't tell anyone." He says.

"Maybe I'll call in a storm, that way I get a power boost also."

"And Percy too, water makes him stronger." He tells me.

"Oh yeah... Well, I'll make sure I'm on a team that has at least one of you on it." I say.

"Anyway, see you tomorrow, I'm so tired I could drop dead at any minute." He tells me.

"Unfair, that would probably make you stronger than ever." I say.

"Ha, you might be right, but I don't really want to die today, so I'll see you tomorrow, maybe in battle, maybe as allies. Later." He says as he once again disappears into the shadows.

I take a short walk around the cabins until I stop in front of cabin one, Zeus's cabin. The walls and columns were made of pure white stone that shone even in the dark. I can see high ceilings and hammocks hanging from the ceiling when I look in through one of the windows.

"Don't get your hopes up, that one's almost always vacant." I hear from behind me.

I turn and see Percy standing behind me with Annabeth beside him.

"I just thought it looked nice..." I mumble.

"Oh it does, Thalia let me in one time, it's even nicer than my cabin, but I still prefer mine, perfect view of the lake." He says.

"Don't you get tired of lugging that sword around all day?" Annabeth asks.

"No, not really. I may not look like it, but I'm pretty strong." I tell her.

"Maybe, but with some brains you would have thought of getting a sheath." She replies.

"Calm down Annabeth, the kid's new here, he's still getting used to the fact that he's a demigod, right kid?" He asks.

"Yeah, and my name is Allan." I tell them.

"Well, Allan, we're playing capture the flag tomorrow, so you'd probably get some rest. Any idea who's team you want to be on?" He asks.

"Hopefully the one that has a child of the Big Three on it." I say even though I know that whatever side I choose to enter will obviously have a child of the Big Three on it.

"Well, power isn't everything, you need to balance power with strategy." Annabeth tells me.

"And I have a strategy. Go in, get the flag, get out." I reply.

"If only it were that easy. Well, goodnight Allan." Percy tells me before giving Annabeth a quick kiss and going into the cabin to the immediate right of Zeus's. I watch as Annabeth crosses the field and enters an intricately constructed cabin on the far side. Campers from all over the place start to file into their cabins to get a good nights rest before duking it out tomorrow for capture the flag. I walk over to the Hermes cabin with an extravagant idea brewing in my mind. What if the only children of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades were able to hold off the entire rest of the camp and still come out victorious? Maybe that's how I'll show everyone who I am. I'd come in with a bang... Yeah... That'll be fun... That'll be fun...


	2. Chapter 2

I awoke to next morning just as the first rays of sunlight creep through the windows of the Hermes cabin. I got up and dress myself quickly before grabbing my sword and heading out the door quietly, something I'm pretty good at now that I can make myself lighter than air. As soon as I'm outside, I see a single person sitting by the campfire, tending to the flames as if they were an infant that was being rocked to sleep. I approach the girl, as I now see it's a girl, and say hello.

"Hello there, why are you up so early?" I ask.

The young girl just sat and tended the flame a bit longer before replying.

"I do not sleep, I tend to the flames to make sure that everyone stays warm. It's my duty, and I've been doing it for thousands of years. My name is Hestia, goddess of the hearth." She tells me.

Knowing that the polite thing to do would be to give a nice bow, I do so and it brings a smile to the face of the goddess.

"You are polite, very few are these days. Please, come and sit, I'll warm you up before Apollo's sun fully rises." She tells me.

I take a seat next to the goddess as she waves her hand over the flames which jump into life before my eyes. I feel the most pleasant and comforting wave of heat blow across my body. I felt like I could lean back into a nice recliner and read a book in complete peace with this kind of fire before me. I almost forget about the godly being sitting next to me, so I quickly come to and carry on with our conversation.

"So, do you get visitors coming to talk often?" I ask.

"Sadly I do not. Very rarely do demigods even acknowledge that I'm here." She replies.

"That doesn't sound very nice. If you'd like, I'll come by and spend some time here whenever you'd like. The fire is actually very comforting." I say before my brain can recognize the words I just spoke.

If I didn't catch myself, I'd probably start flirting with the goddess, since she looked like she was about my age, and she was rather pretty, as well as kind beyond imagination.

"I'd like that Allan." She says with a smile.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I introduced myself earlier." I tell her.

"It is okay, I know who you are, son of Zeus." She says.

I completely blank out as she says the words "son of Zeus."

"You know who I am? How?" I ask in a hushed voice.

She giggles a bit before saying "I am a goddess, I know who you are before you even tell me. We gods have a sort of... What would you call it... Sixth sense?" She tells me.

"Oh... I'm sorry, you're the first goddess I've ever actually met, and I'm glad to say that the encounter has been a good one. As I've been told, some gods can be... Unpleasant to be around." I tell her.

"I am glad to hear it." She says with another smile. "I can feel that you're powerful like your father, and wise beyond your years, though you don't show it. I know you'll do well in this afternoon's games." She says.

"I hope so, it'll be my first game here at camp, so I want it to be a good one." I reply.

"May I ask why you seemed so distraught when I knew of your godly parentage earlier? You seemed like you didn't want anyone to know. This is rather strange, being a child of the elder gods, I would have thought you'd be bragging or showing off. You do not seem to be doing either of those things, in fact, you're trying to hide it." She says.

"Well, Zeus hasn't claimed me yet." I tell her.

"Why not? Surely you must know he is your father due to your powers." She says.

"Well, I asked him not to." I tell her.

"You asked Zeus not to claim you as his child?" She asks.

"Not really, I just asked him to do so when the timing was right. I have plans for when I hope he will claim me, and if all works out, it'll happen tonight during the games." I tell the goddess.

"I have a feeling that you'll make quite the show. I'll be honored if I could see it." She tells me.

"Well, I don't know if you'll be able to see me exactly, but you'll definitely see the light show, if you know what I mean." I say with a wink.

"Well, if it includes what I think it does, try not to make it rain on my camp fire, it hurts a little when it does." She admits.

"Of course! I don't want to hurt you, even if you weren't a goddess who could probably get her revenge in a very creative way. Never the less, I will not harm your fire." I tell her.

"Then I thank you. Zeus does send rain every so often, but he doesn't seem to hear my requests for a gentle rain... Maybe we can build a roof over my fire pit to keep the rain out, that way I won't need to worry." She says.

"I'll help you build it, I like your fires, they're comforting." I admit again.

"It seems like your fellow campers are starting to awaken. I think you should be off for your breakfast, you'll need your strength for today. I thank you again for coming and spending time with me Allan. I'll look forward to your company from now on." She says to me.

"It was my pleasure Hestia." I say with another cordial bow.

Hestia smiles again and returns to her fire, which now burned a nice hot red, as if Hestia was blushing through the use of the flames. I glance down and notice that my sword no longer rested on the seat next to me.

"Have you seen my sword?" I ask.

"Check your waist." Hestia replies.

Sure enough, on my waist was a sheath in which sat my sword. It was covered in black leather with celestial bronze studs decorating the length of the sheath with more celestial bronze fittings on the guard and the end of the sheath.

"A token of my appreciation for spending the morning with me and for being so polite where many do not. It will fit any sized blade you put in it and your blade will never fall out, even when you're flying around." She tells me.

"Thank you Hestia, thank you again." I say with yet another bow.

"You do not need to keep bowing, but I appreciate your thanks and manners none the less." She says.

I give Hestia a wave as I head off towards the dining hall with my sword hanging from my belt. I receive a few compliments on it on my way to the food tables, with a few people, including Annabeth who ask where I got it. I simply reply "from a friend" before giving and offering to the gods and sitting down to eat. I sit and chat with the other members of the Hermes table about their plans for the day.

"I'm going over to the archery range, I need to practice if I'm going to take anyone out in the game tonight."

"I'll just go work out, need to build up the muscles."

"Training arena, gotta work on my sword work."

After my meal I join the group of campers heading towards the training arena. I suit up in some armor that's only a little bit too big on me before partnering up with an Athena kid for some practice sparring. I easily deflect all their attacks and return with my own, which they block. I end up taking it up a notch as I increase the speed of my attacks. I keep thrusting and slashing until I hook the kid's blade and send it across the arena. I get a few claps on the back and some congratulations before everyone switches partners to continue practicing. I end up with an Ares kid with a battle ax. He seemed to not care if he took my head off or not, so I kept dodging and ducking until I took a quick swipe across the front of his armor.

"There, you're out." I jokingly say.

The guy just growls and brings his ax down hard towards my head. I'm forced to jump out of the way to avoid being split in two by this giant, but I retaliate by giving him a hard bash on the back with the pommel of my sword, sending him face first into the dirt. I level my sword at the back of his neck to stop him from getting up and taking my head off. I decide to call for a switch again before he tries to actually kill me. I keep switching from person to person, watching all their fighting styles and making note of their weaknesses.

Athena kids are excellent at making strategies, but lack the strength required to bring someone big down quickly, instead they keep attacking until their opponent is tired, then they strike hard. Apollo kids are strong, but not very fast, so I can out maneuver them rather easily. Ares kids are quite stupid, but they are very strong and pretty good at making plans last second, so they kept me on my toes the whole fight. I keep observing and noting until everyone but the gods who don't have demigod children are left, as well as Percy, since I've already fought Nico.

"Holy crap... You're good..." One Dionysus kid tells me after I disarm him and send him flat on his back.

I sheath my sword and help him back up as well as handing him back his sword. I follow the group into the dining hall for lunch before heading back to my cabin for a quick nap. I wake up when a Hermes girl shakes me to tell me that capture the flag is about to start. I exit the cabin and head over to the big house as I put my armor back over my chest. I have to go back and grab my sword, but I make it in time before Chiron starts talking.

"This evening's game of capture the flag will be held in the forest as usual. For those who don't know the rules -Allan- each team will have half an hour to choose a hiding place for their flag within the woods. The flags must be easily visible, but you can make them as hard to get to as possible, as this will add to the challenge. You may choose to use whatever weapons you'd like, just try not to maim or badly injure anyone. Clarisse, that goes double for you. The first team to capture the enemy's flag and return it to their side of the forest wins the game. The border will be the river, so make sure you take Percy out quickly or he's going to whoop you all." He says jokingly.

I move my way through the crowd until I locate Percy standing with Annabeth. I get his attention as Chiron continues explains the rules and regulations of the game.

"Hey Percy, I have a plan, but you need to trust me." I tell him.

"Trust is earned, not given." He replies.

"Too bad, give it this one time, I promise you won't be let down. I swear on the Styx." I add.

"Okay, I guess so, what is it?" He asks.

"Allan, you're the newest camper, that means you get too choose who's on your team and you get to choose first." Comes the voice of Chiron.

"And here is it." I tell Percy.

"Come on up Allan, that way you can choose who's on your team." Chiron says.

"I already have. Percy, Nico and I versus the rest of the camp." I say loudly so everyone hears me.

"Are you insane?" Percy asks.

"Hey, I swore on the Styx didn't I? Trust me, we'll win." I tell him.

"My boy, don't you know that even with two very powerful demigods on your team, it's still way too small to even stand a chance of succeeding?" Chiron asks.

"Yup, but I like a challenge. So is this good? Can we get the game started?" I ask.

"I guess so. So be it, Percy, Nico and Allan versus the rest of the camp. This has never happens before, so I don't know what to expect. Teams, if you can call them teams, head to your sides of the forest. I'll roam around and act as field medic, but I don't know if we'll need it. Let the game begin!" Chiron calls out.

"I hope you know what you've gotten us into." Percy says.

"I trust him." Nico say behind Percy. "I've seen him fight, he's pretty good. The three of us might just be able to fend off the rest of the camp." He says as the other campers move away towards the woods.

"Think about it Nico, no offense Allan, but most of the work will probably fall on to us." He says.

"Maybe, but I know Allan won't let us down. We'll win, right Allan?" Nico says.

"You seem pretty happy." Percy notes.

"I'm just glad to be back at camp." Nico lies.

"Yeah okay, whatever you say. Let's go stash the flag up a tree or something and hope for the best." Percy mumbles as he leads me and Nico into the forest.

With the sun setting, the forest darkens tenfold. Soon we have very little light aided only by the light from our swords. Nico suggests hiding the flag on top of a huge pine, but Percy just tells him that no one will be able to get up to it to put it there, meaning it would be unfair for the other team. Percy wanted to put it in the middle of the stream so he could easily defend it, but Nico tells him that it would be pretty easy to overwhelm Percy and take an easy victory by quickly taking it to their side of the river.

"Where should we hide it then?" Percy asks.

"Maybe on top of that thing." I say as I point to a large outcropping of rocks in a clearing off to the side of the river.

"On top of Zeus's fist? You know, that might just work Allan. It's pretty hard to climb that thing, plus I have the river to help me fight. That and we have a wide open plain to defend it as well. I'm starting to think I misjudged you." Percy says.

"Good because you two are going to defend the flag while I go off and get the enemy's flag." I tell them.

"I think you spoke too soon." Nico says.

"Yeah, Nico says you can fight, but can you fight through all of the cabins to reach a heavily guarded flag? The point is, we don't even know what you can do yet. We don't even know who your godly parent is either." He says.

It takes all my self control to stop myself from showing Percy how I can fly and telling him Zeus is my father, but I manage to keep my mouth shut about that for now.

"That's the point though, I'm the wild card. I could be a great advantage if you let me, not that I'm asking for you to though. You two defend the flag with all you've got and I'll get the enemy's flag before you know it." I tell them.

I cross to a tree next to the outcrop of rocks that Percy identified as Zeus's fist. I grab a hanging vine from one of the branches and use it to pull myself up to the higher branches where I jump on to the top of the rocks.

"Toss up the flag." I tell Percy.

Percy hoists the flagpole and throws it like a spear towards me. I manage to catch the pole as it passes me and quickly dig the shaft between a crack in the rock face to hold it upright. Once I'm pleased that it'll hold, I jump off the top of the rocks and slide down the hanging vine until I reach the ground. I had just enough time to draw my sword before some of the enemy kids burst through the bushes on the far side of the river. One of them pulled out a horn and gave a quick call before Percy sent a wave of water to knock them all flat on their backs. I look to my side and see something that damn near makes me piss my pants. Where Nico stood moments ago now stands an equally tall skeleton in full battle armor. Nico now wore a suit of black Stygian iron with a helmet that had a dark purple plume going down the centre. The skeleton Nico turned his head towards me and I caught a glimpse of his eye sockets which contained small blue flames instead of eyes.

"Don't looked so scared in the face of death." Nico said in a raspy voice.

I turned away as Nico started to summon skeleton and zombie warriors from the ground as Percy stood his ground with his sword and shield at the ready. Just as Nico reached the head of his small army did the next enemy campers come out of the bushes. This time they started to cross as Nico's archers shot volleys of arrows towards them and Percy made the river recede to surround him and lift him from the ground. Me and Percy lead the first charge as Nico stood back to command his troops. Percy took out the first few enemies as I reach my first. The kid swung his sword towards me which I parry before slamming my elbow into his face. I must have hit pretty hard because he got knocked out instantly.

I continue my act of parry and immobilize until I have a small collection of unconscious demigods around me. Noticing an opening in the enemies coming towards us, I take off running straight into the thick of things.

"Stay here and defend!" I yell out to Percy who gives a quick nod before returning to his battle.

I jump straight past a few people and dive under the swings of a few swords before I reach the bushes and jump straight through. There didn't seem to be as many people of the far side, so I'm able to run quickly as a few kids follow me. I parry a few close calls but continue to run, easily outrunning the ones following me because I secretly used the winds to speed me up. I almost didn't see as I came upon a small cliff, about a fifty foot drop to more trees below. I back up a bit from the edge as the first enemy bursts through the trees towards me. Without thinking I jump straight off the side and fall for a second before tucking and rolling as I hit the ground. I use my powers to cushion my fall and to make it look real. I look back as I dart off into the forest and see the enemies following me staring in disbelief that I survived without a scratch from my fall. Seeing the impossibility of taking this route, they take off back towards my flag in hopes of defeating me that way. I keep on running through the woods until I feel and arrow fly just past the back of my neck. I turn and draw my sword as I see another arrow flying towards me. Using my combat instincts I knock the arrow out of the air with the flat of my blade before looking around for the archer. I locate her just in time to see her fire another arrow at me. I decide to show off a bit, so using my power over the wind, I slow the arrow down and catch it before it impales me through the neck. I see the girl look in shock and disbelief as I snap the arrow and toss down the pieces before charging her. She's able to pull out a dagger before I knock it out of her hand and hit her in the helmet with the flat of my blade. I make a mental note to watch the strength of my swings as I see the girl fall unconscious as well. I take off again as I see Chiron advance on the girl to tend to her. I keep running with the wind until I emerge in a clearing on the shores of the sea. In the middle of the clearing stood the flag with not a single person around it. Knowing it's too good to be true, I raise my sword and run into the clearing only to be ambushed by both Athena and Ares kids from all around me.

"See what I mean Allan, balance strength and tactics." I hear Annabeth call out to me.

"And here's my tactic. Go in, get the flag, get out." I say as I charge the ring now forming around me.

One Ares kid levels his spear which I knock away as well as his consciousness with another smack on the head. I spin around and deflect a few more spears before knocking some arrows out of the air with a swipe of my sword. I'm fighting so fluently that even Annabeth is stunned. I see Clarisse emerge from the group and charge me again, but this time I'm ready. She swipes at me with the blade of her electric spear which I ducked and swiped back at with my sword. I make contact and send a shower of sparks into the eyes of the people still left standing around me as I feel the electricity making me stronger. She brings her spear head down over my head and lodges it in the ground as I side step and grab the shaft again feeling the electricity as I give Clarisse another kick to the chest sending her backwards into a tree. I parry and block and counter attack for the remainder of the enemies until I spin and level my sword at mid air. I can feel that there's someone ahead of me, so I give my sword a quick upwards flick. The point connects with something which reveals itself to be Annabeth's invisibility cap which I knock off her head revealing her standing there shocked as ever.

"How in Hades..." Was all she said before she attacked with her knife.

Annabeth's skill with her knife was something I thought could be used to best Nico or even Percy if she really pushed herself. Us two sat locked it swift combat, spinning around and exchanging swings and stabs for longer than I ever thought anyone would fair against me. Annabeth seemed to be one of the best warriors in the camp, easily outranking anyone except Percy, Nico and myself. I kept fighting until Annabeth slipped up and I gave her a quick slash across the armor which dropped her to her knees.

"Sorry, it's nothing personal." Was all I said before I gave her a lighter, but still hard hit on the head to knock her out.

I respect Annabeth, so I immediately checked to see if she was hurt, but she only appears to be groggy at best, but not fully unconscious. Taking this opportunity to win for my team, I quickly run over to the now unguarded flag and rip it off it's pole. Making sure no one is looking at me, I take off flying into the sky to make my way quickly back to Zeus's fist to end the game.

I fly up to a cloud and sit for a bit to clear my head. I just took on the best warriors in the camp at the same time and won. I took out two whole cabins on my own. I decide to take the enemy's flag, the red team's flag which I just took and tie it around my neck like a cape. Deciding that this is the best possible time to show off my true identity, I raise my hands and make a clap of thunder roll out across the sky. I then start to occasionally send small lightning bolts out and across the clouds. I eventually get two bolts of lightning to connect to each hand and I feel the immense power of the energy coursing through my body. Once I'm as full of energy as I think I can take, I launch myself off the cloud and rocket towards the ground. As I fall I see the enemy's forces concentrated around Nico and Percy on three sides. Nico and Percy are fighting their hardest to keep them from reaching the flag. I watch as the enemy backs up and forms a line around Percy and Nico before they charge. I decide this is the time. It's now or never.

I slow my fall down and unleash massive bolts of lightning that strike within the gap between the enemy and the place where Nico and Percy stood with their backs against the stone of Zeus's fist. I stop yourself and hover above the two of them and call down bolt after bolt at whoever tries to make their way forward until I have a scorched ring around my allies and a scared enemy falling back. I land in front of Percy and call one last massive lightning bolt down straight at my sword which splits it all over the crowd. What I don't see is that the flag/cape that I'm wearing suddenly changed color from blood red to royal blue with a bright white lighting bolt shape down the middle. I watch as Chiron comes galloping into the clearing as a blue lightning bolt appears hovering above my head lighting up the whole area in a blue light. He takes a few minutes to realize what happens before calling out to the campers.

"All hail Allan O'Riley, son of Zeus!" Chiron calls out as every camper including Nico (now normal looking) and Percy kneel down around the clearing.

Everyone is showing their respect to me since I'm the son of the king of the gods. After a short time, everyone gets back to their feet and stares at me in wonder and awe. Some start to whisper and talk with one another until Chiron calls out again.

"You knew all this time, didn't you? You knew Zeus was your godly parent but never told us! Why not? You're the prince of Olympus! We would have celebrated and feasted in your honor!" Chiron says.

"I didn't tell until this very moment because I wanted to let everyone know in the best possible way I could. I don't like to be the centre of attention, that's why I waited until now. I saw my opportunity tonight with the game, so I took it. Percy, this is why I didn't tell you my entire plan for the game, because if I did, you'd tell everyone who I am and ruin the surprise. Nico already knew but he played along like he didn't so I could convince you to trust me so we could go three-on gods know how many tonight. You two fought well while I retrieved the flag, but I knew I would, no offense guys, but the real plan was to get everyone here to show my true identity to you all." I tell everyone.

"That's no fair, they're the three most powerful half bloods here!" One camper yells from behind Chiron.

"That is true, but you all agreed to play, so everything that happened tonight was still fair game. As I see it, you almost won too, but the game goes to the blue team! Well done you three." Chiron congratulates me, Nico and Percy.

I take flight once again as Percy makes the river return to it's normal state before flying off to get Annabeth and the others in the clearing. I see her helping the others to their feet as I land causing them to jump in surprise.

"You were just flying!" She blurts out.

"Yeah, I'm a son of Zeus. I just announced it to the rest of the camp after I got claimed." I tell them.

"You mean that lightning was you?" Clarisse asks.

"Yup." I say as I send another bolt to strike the far side of the clearing making everyone jump again.

"Are you here to brag? If so, piss off." Clarisse says to me.

"Actually, I came to ask if you'd all like a quick lift back to camp. I can control the winds, so I can fly us all back really quickly so you can get checked out. I think I may have hit some of you too hard in the head." I tell them.

"No. I'd rather walk." Clarisse tells me.

"Too bad. Even though I don't like you Clarisse, I still don't want you to be hurt." I say as I lift off once again.

I control the very air around everyone below me so I can lift them off the ground before taking off towards camp. Chiron tends to everyone while I head back into the cabin area. I see Hestia still sitting by the fire with a huge smile in her face. I fly the last distance between the two of us and sit down beside her to relax.

"I saw your 'light show.' It was quite impressive. I see that you skipped the rain however." She tells me.

"Yeah, I didn't want to hurt you or your fire." I say.

"Thank you Allan." She says as she pats my hand.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say that this goddess was now flirting with me. Maybe she is... Maybe I could have an immortal godly girlfriend... Who knows.

"Allan, I uh... Wanted to thank you for, you know... Helping me." I hear from behind me.

I turn around and see Annabeth standing behind me with Percy.

"Well I couldn't leave you guys all the way out in the forest alone now could I? Too many monster for a bunch of tired and injured demigods. Plus I wanted to see Clarisse's face as I brought down a lightning bolt." I tell her.

"Oh, hello Hestia." Percy says with a quick bow. "How have you been lately?"

"I've been fine Percy. I'm glad that you've come back to talk with me again. As I recall, you were the first person to notice me here at the camp for hundreds of years." She tells him.

"Well, it's always nice to see you Hestia." He adds.

"Thank you Percy Jackson." She says before Percy and Annabeth head back to their cabins.

"He's so polite... Like you." She tells me.

"Who was the last person who talked to you, other than Percy and myself?" I ask.

"A daughter of Aphrodite, but unfortunately she died a few days later when a hellhound came in through the woods. She wasn't as nice as you and Percy though. She kept asking me to make the fire bigger and hotter for her, and never once gave a thank you. Most disrespectful." She tells me.

I decide to sit and exchange pleasantries about the game as I give her a play by play of what happened. She seems rather impressed at my skills, so she congratulates me again while I sit and relax in the warmth from her fire. When I see the remaining campers leaving to go back to their cabins, I stand and give Hestia a good night.

"Well, it was nice talking to you again, I can't see why people don't talk to you more often, you're a very likable goddess to spend time with." I say to Hestia.

"And you my prince, you are also likable." She says with a bit of a giggle.

"Well then, I'm going off to bed. Goodnight Hestia." I say before she gives me a hug.

I'm pretty shocked that I have a goddess giving me a hug right now, but I just accept it for what it is and return the hug.

"That was... Unexpected." I tell her.

"We gods have emotions as well, even though we usually try to hide them. Except Ares, he like 'anger' a lot." She says while blushing again. I could tell because the fire changed to a deep red again.

"Well... Goodnight." I tell her.

"Goodnight Allan." She replies as I take to the sky again.

I only fly a short way over to my new cabin before I land and push in the door. I see two bunks already claimed, one saying "Jason" and the other "Thalia." Jason's was almost unnoticeable because it was so clean and well kept, but Thalia's was messy with Green Day posters and CDs everywhere. Luckily I like Green Day, so I might end up borrowing a few of those CDs later. I once again change into my pajamas as I drape my other cloths over a chair before flying up to one of the hammocks hanging from the ceiling. I lay there for a bit thinking about how my day went completely like I wanted it to. I won in capture the flag, I took on entire cabins of demigods and came out without a scratch, and I got a hug from a goddess.

Yeah, I'll sleep good tonight.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up to the sound of knocking on my cabin door. I gave my hand a lazy flick to open the door using my power over the air.

"Come in..." I say in a sleepy voice.

"Hey kid, there's some... This place is huge... Where are you?" I hear my bus driver Gerard call out to me.

"Up here." I call out as I roll over in my hammock to see the man below me.

I see that he's not a man anymore though, from the waist down was dark brown fur and goat hooves. I've already seen some satyrs around camp by now, so it's not a shock to see him like that.

"Oh, well there's a kid over in the Hephaestus cabin that wants to see you, something about a new piece of gear. You might want to hurry up, he's pretty A.D.H.D., so I doubt he'll stand around for long." He says before leaving the cabin.

I allow myself to roll off the hammock and float gently to the ground before stretching and putting my clothes back on. I see that someone or something had come by during the night and cleaned my clothes for me, as well as leaving behind an orange Camp Half-Blood tee shirt on top of the pile. I throw on my clothes and my new shirt and my jacket before attaching my sword to my belt and leaving the cabin. I give Hestia a wave as I fly over to the only cabin with a smoke stack, the Hephaestus cabin. I meet a boy outside who introduces himself as Leo Valdez before leading me inside. We take some stairs to get below the floor of the cabin and soon emerge into a large workshop where most of the cabin's residents were working on something or another.

Around the walls of the workshop were doors every now and again, ones which Leo told you lead into ancient caves where they mined ores and hoped to stumble across some celestial bronze, though Leo told you that the purest form of the metal could only found inside mount Olympus, all around Hephaestus' grandest workshop. Some doors had machines up against them because the cave beyond had been mined dry, or they stumbled across deep dwelling monsters that wanted some demigods to snack on.

"Is that a tattoo chair?" I ask as we pass through the workshop.

"That? Oh yeah. Janice is our resident tattoo artist. She did one for my birthday a few months back, see!" Leo says as he rolls up the sleeve on his army jacket to reveal his tattoo.

On his arm were the words "Y.O.L.O. LOL, JK, I DIED!" Below which was an image of a needle sticking into his arm injecting him with glowing (yes, the ink was actually glowing) red liquid. Just above the needle in small letters said "Insert physician's cure here." I have no idea what that meant.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask.

"Well, last year when we were fighting Gaea, I kind of, well, *died*. But get this, as I was in the middle of being completely dead, my good buddy Festus rams this needle into my arm which brings me back to life so I can meet up with my girlfriend and go for a nice vacation. We land on this beach in the middle of the night and up comes Hades looking meaning than a mother- uh... Probably shouldn't finish that sentence. He tells me that he's all angry and stuff since I'm supposed to be dead, but leaves when I tell him about the physician's cure. Pretty sure he went to rip that guy a new one. Funniest thing though, after he left, we heard this Calypso music in the distance. Needless to say, my girlfriend, Calypso, wasn't impressed." He tells me.

"Uh huh... Well, okay then..." I tell him before he cuts me off.

"So, you want a new weapon? Maybe some armor, or both? I love making stuff, but that's because my father is the god of fire and blacksmithing. Any ideas of what you want? You've already got a sword, but I can make a better one, a magical one." He tells me.

"Geez, take a breath when you talk. Anyway, I thought my sword was fine." I tell him as I take it from its sheath.

Leo quickly grabs it from my hand and examines it before holding it up to my eyes for me to see.

"Dent, dent, scratch, dull blade, rounded point, warped shape, not entirely straight." He tells me.

"Oh... Yeah, I guess so." I say.

Leo just takes my sword over to a vat of molten metal and lights his hand on fire to burn away the grip so that only the metal is left. He just drops the sword into the vat and returns to me with a long solid bar of celestial bronze.

"What kind of sword would you like? Or maybe an ax. Spear? Club? Long pointy thing?" Leo asks.

"I'll stick with a sword if that's okay. I liked the sword I had, so maybe one like that, just without all the dents and scratches and stuff." I tell him.

Leo nods before lighting his hands on fire again to heat up the celestial bronze bar. Even though I can see that the heat from his hands would be enough to liquefy steel in seconds, it takes a little while for the celestial bronze to reach a red hot state. I have to stand a fair bit back so that the heat didn't light me on fire. Once Leo got the metal evenly hot, he took it over to a power hammer and quickly started pounding the metal into shape. I watch as he heats the metal and pounds it out with the machine for a little over ten minutes before he uses his fire hands and starts rough cutting the shape of the blade out of the sheet of celestial bronze he just created. He reheats the metal again and starts carefully pounding the metal into the basic shape of the blade before taking it to a belt sander and grinding it down until he held a perfectly balanced sword in his hands. He hands the blade off to another kid before returning to talk to me.

"That was really quick. I always thought this stuff took days to do." I tell him.

"Not when you can cut most of the time by heating the metal up in your own hands. I also saved some time by casting some Mist into the metal as I heated it to combine it with the magical properties all good weapons have." He explains.

"Where is it now?" I ask.

"One of the other guys is making the grip and the guard and pommel over in the finer work area of the shop. I'm better with the metal and he's better with the wood and leather work, then there's one other girl is really good with detail work, so they'll get that done quickly. Now, you need some armor that fits properly. I saw last night during the games that your armor bounced around a little. We can't have that, so come on over here." Leo says as he leads me to another part of the shop.

Leo gets one of his brothers to come over and take my dimensions down on a sheet of paper before leaving to model some armor for me. I watch as the guy cuts out sheets of celestial bronze before starting to heat it and pound it into the shape of my chest. With the chest plate worked to the proper size, the guy starts to make what Leo points out as manacas, or arm guards. The way he shaped the metal made it look like feathers for an eagle. When he attached the manacas to the chest plate, it looked almost like it had wings, which is pretty cool since I'm able to fly, so it just adds to the decor of the piece yet also retained functionality as well as being good armor.

"Here, try it on before we do the interior leather work. We want you to be comfy when you wear it." The boy says.

As they help me put on the armor, I feel that it's perfectly contoured to the shape of my body. The arm guards fit snug and bend appropriately at the joints, the chest plate didn't wobble around and everything looked amazing as well.

"Here," Leo says as he hands me my jacket. "Nico told me about your idea for making this magical. Try and fit your jacket over the armor, then we'll use The Mist to merge the two together." He tells me.

I have a fair bit of trouble fitting the jacket over the arm guards but as soon as it's in place, Leo starts blasting me with concentrated doses of Mist. I watch as the leather of the jacket and the metal of the armor seem to melt together into one. One second I'm wearing the armor, the next it's just a jacket, then back and forth. Finally it stops shifting and I'm left standing there in my jacket, which I quickly zip up to make it transform into the armor I was wearing before. The zipper stays attached to the interior of the armor, so when I touch it to unzip it it transforms back into my jacket.

"Oh my gods, that was amazing! Thanks Leo, oh and you guys too." I notion to those who helped.

"I had an idea of my own, so here, try these on." He says as he hands me a pair of black combat gloves, the kind the military would use.

"These will have the same effect as the jacket. At will, they'll change into a pair of armored gauntlets, then when you close your hand into a fist, your sword will appear in one hand and a shield in your other. I'll combine them when your- never mind, here it comes." Leo says as one of the girls carries my sword back over to me.

I take it and notice that the three foot long, leaf shaped blade is incredibly well balanced, something I never noticed my old one wasn't. The blade felt so perfect and light in my hand that I had to give it a few practice swings. The edge was honed to a razor sharp finish and the tip was sharper than I could have imagined. As I held it, Leo once again blasted my hand and sword with more Mist until the sword disappeared into the celestial bronze that was now the gauntlet on my hand. When I closed my fist, the sword rematerialized in my hand and when I let go it disappeared and the gauntlet changed back into the combat glove.

"I don't know how to thank you guys enough. How can I repay you?" I ask.

"Don't worry, they're gifts. But if you really want to, you could use them to help us win the next game of capture the flag. That, and I've always wanted to go skydiving, so could you do that for us? We have parachutes, don't ask why though." Leo tells me.

"Anything you guys want, I'll make it a priority." I say to the kids.

Deciding to still use the sheath Hestia gave me, I close my fist and make the sword reappear before placing it in the sheath. Hestia was true to her word, the sheath changed shape and stretched a little until it perfectly fit the sword I put in it. The rest of the cabin follows me outside with a few parachutes and one with a wing suit. I fly the group up to the clouds and make it so they can walk on them as well by manipulating the winds to hold them up. We had fun for a while, jumping off with Leo and the rest of his cabin, racing towards the ground and flying off while he popped his parachute. The Hephaestus kids seemed to be having the time of their lives, something which made me pretty happy to be able to give them. I take my last jump with the rest of the cabin before thanking them again and heading off to my own cabin. I pass Hestia along the way and sit to chat for a while again.

"I like the new sword Allan, it looks worthy of a son of Zeus." She tells me.

"The kids in the Hephaestus cabin made it for me, along with some armor and these glove/gauntlet things. Oh, they gave me a shield too, but I haven't used that yet." I tell her.

The two of us sat chatting about the day, what tomorrow might bring, and she even told me I have good taste in food. I asked her how she knew that and she told me that for every offering made to the gods at meals, she got a portion because it was her hearth which held the fire. That's how the gods eat, the take in whatever is presented as an offering.

"I'm enjoying our talks Allan, I haven't spoken this much to a demigod in a long time." She admits.

"Okay, I'm going to be blunt about this. Are you flirting with me?" I ask.

Hestia's fire once again burns a deep red before she speaks again.

"I... may be, but I could ask the same of you." She says.

"Well... Yes... I am." I admit, blushing a little myself.

I look up as I hear a loud boom of thunder roar across the sky.

"Was that you?" She asks.

"No, maybe it was my father." I tell her as I stand up to survey the sky.

"Hmm... Zeus is calling all the gods to Olympus. So long Allan, I shall hope to see you again soon." Hestia tells me before stepping into her fire and disappearing.

I take flight but soon land when I see Percy, Annabeth and Nico running towards the big house. I join them and they ask if I was the one who made the thunder.

"It wasn't me. It might have been my father, and I could feel that it was a bit angry and even a little scared." I tell them.

"We need to see Chiron about this." Annabeth says to everyone.

We enter the big house and meet Chiron playing a game of chess with a man in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts. Annebeth introduces me to the man and tells me that he is the god Dionysus who is the current superintendent of sorts for the camp.

"Ah, Alex O'Connor, pleased to meet you." He says as he shakes my hand.

"It's Allan O'Riley actually, sir."

"Yeah, whatever. Now, I can't stay Chiron, Zeus is summoning the gods to Olympus." He says as he stands.

"And why is that? It isn't the solstice." Chiron says.

"Well if I knew why he was calling us I probably wouldn't go. Anyway, goodbye children." He says as he disappears with a snap, leaving behind a faint smell of grapes, to which a mounted leopard head on the wall sniffed loudly and purred.

"Allan, do you know what that thunder was about?" Chiron asks.

"No idea. Dad must be either angry or scared, or possibly both. I have no idea why though." I tell him.

"Angry or scared... Zeus is almost never scared, but he can get angry rather easily. How do you know this?" He asks.

"I felt it when the thunder rolled over." I admit.

"Well that makes sense... Surely Zeus will-" Chiron says.

"Chiron." I hear from behind him.

As Chiron turns I see the shimmering image of a handsome man behind him as if he were an image on a tv screen. Annabeth informs me that it's an Iris message, the way demigods and gods communicate with each other. I see that the man has the exact same electric blue eyes as me and the same shade of jet black hair. The figure in the Iris message was undoubtably Zeus.

"Inform the half bloods to be on high alert. I'll need Percy, Allan and Nico to also come to Olympus as quickly as can be. There's a matter we need to discuss with our children, one of great importance." Zeus says before the image shimmers and disappears into mist. He said my name as if he didn't want to, as if he feared speaking about me.

"Allan, round up the cabin leaders and bring them here, we need to inform everyone of this change of events." Chiron tells me.

I literally fly out the door and head towards each of the cabins to inform their leaders to head to the big house as quickly as possible. I'm soon joined by leaders from the remaining six more cabins, making the total ten, since Artemis and Hera have no demigod children. Once everyone is gathered around a table in the basement of the big house, Chiron tells of the information we received personally from Zeus.

"It must be bad if Zeus is telling us himself. That didn't even happen when we were fighting Kronos." Clarisse says.

"I agree that whatever the reason is, we must react accordingly. Zeus has summoned Percy, Nico and Allan to Olympus to tell them something even I do not know. In their absence, we will need to fortify the camp and set regular patrols along our borders. If this is as bad as Zeus made it seem, we will definitely be under attack sooner or later. Now, you three will need to get to Olympus on the double. Argus is waiting to take you there as we speak." Chiron tells us.

"No need." Nico says. "I can shadow travel, Percy could get their using the water and Allan could fly. It'll be much quicker that way."

"So be it, just be careful on your way there. Be on your guard." Chiron says and dismisses the council.

I wait for Nico and Percy to head to their cabins and suit up before leaving.

"I'll meet you two at the Empire State Building." Nico says before disappearing into the shadows beside his cabin.

"Let's go then." Percy says as we take off towards to ocean's shore.

Percy dives in and takes off with the use of the currents as I take off into the sky. To stay safe, I fly along high above Percy matching his speed with my own. I can look down and see him just below the water's surface as we head onwards towards New York harbor. I fly along for most of the journey until I hear a muffled explosion and a bright green light shine from below and see a massive amount of water being thrown into the sky. It looked as if someone had detonated a nuclear bomb under the ocean. I quickly fly around in search of Percy because it seemed like the explosion came from directly underneath him. I spot him ahead of me falling towards the water. I assume that he was thrown into the sky by the force of the explosion. I quickly race to catch him in mid air and speed off towards the skyline of New York in the distance. I gain some altitude until we're in the clouds so I don't get seen. I only dip below the clouds as I descend onto the observation deck of the Empire State Building. I land just as Nico runs over to help me carry Percy.

"What happened? Why's Percy unconscious?" Nico asks.

"No freaking clue. We were heading here when some explosion happened under the water which threw Percy into the air. I caught him and flew us here as fast as I could. We need to get him to Olympus, where is it?" I ask.

"Right above our heads. He need to take the elevator up." He tells me.

Nico helps me carry Percy into the elevator before pressing a combination of buttons before the doors shut and I feel myself going up. It takes a few minutes, but eventually the doors open and I'm faced with the most breathtaking view ever. I've seen how Olympus is supposed to be represented in movies and video games, but the real deal is so much better. The huge buildings and Parthenon like shrines for different gods, then there's the main throne room of the gods, easily larger than a football stadium made of solid white stone like my cabin at camp. Me and Nico carry Percy's unconscious body towards the throne room so we can get him some help. On our way we see minor gods coming out of some houses and buildings to see the three of us on our way to the god's chambers. The entire area of Olympus was more massive than I could have thought, so by the time me and Nico are tired from carrying Percy, we're only a third of the way there.

"This is taking too long, Percy could be badly hurt." Nico tells me as we stop to catch our breath.

"Maybe I should just fly us there... I'll be tired, but we'll get there quicker." I say.

"Yeah, if you can." He says.

I have Nico hoist Percy onto my back before taking off towards the throne room. I use the winds to carry Nico and together we fly as fast as my strength will allow. I almost collapse by the time we reach the massive front doors to the hall of the gods, but Nico helps me stay on my feet. I let Nico take one of Percy's arms before pushing one of the doors open with the winds. We enter the hall of the gods to find all twelve of the Olympians deep in conversation, something that doesn't usually happen. Usually they're fighting and arguing, not discussing things more or less peacefully. I can see Hestia tending the fire at the side of the room and give her a quick nod before continuing on to the rest of the gods.

"My lords, can you help us!" I call out, but they don't seem to hear me.

"Please help!" Nico calls, but still they take no notice.

"Oh for the gods sake..." I say before I raise my hand and summon a tremendously loud clap of thunder around the palace.

The gods immediately stop talking and stare down at the three of us, which is pretty easy when they're more than ten times my height.

"Please Zeus, Percy is injured!" I call out to Zeus.

"Percy's hurt? How did this happen?" Poseidon bellows.

"He was caught in a explosion. I caught him and brought him here." I tell the gods.

"You did? Who are you?" Poseidon asks.

"Allan O'Riley, son of Zeus." I tell the gods.

"So you broke our truce twice!" Poseidon yelled at Zeus.

"I only had a vague recollection of this child until he sent me a prayer a few days ago!" He yells back.

"How can you forget something as important as having another half blood child?" Poseidon yells again.

"Well... It was about seventeen years ago, I asked Dionysus for some of the best wine he could produce and went down to earth. I drank and partied with the mortals until even my head was spinning. I may or may not have taken a woman to bed that night, but I don't really remember." He tells them.

"My mom said she and my dad went to a party where she got so drunk she passed out for an entire day... She said they both hooked up with multiple other people at the party but still remained true to one another, so they tried not to accidentally get themselves or others pregnant... But that man is still with my mom now, at home... But you claimed me last night... Maybe you and my mom had your thing when she was away from my dad... He must think I'm his." I tell them.

"Yes child, you are undoubtably mine. I apologize for not seeing you at all until today, but at the time my brothers and I had a truce to not have any more mortal children, so I wasn't even supposed to have had you in the first place. Never the less, I want you here son, I need you to be." He tells me as he steps down from his throne.

I glance around the room and notice some peculiar things. For one, Hades was present, something I was told only happens at the winter solstice, which isn't today. Next, I notice that my father had his master lightning bolt with him, but Poseidon did not have his trident, and Hades did not have his helm of darkness. Both gods seemed extremely scared and angry, but they also looked like they were pleading for someone to help them.

"My son, there's a reason we called you here today." He says as he waves his hand over Percy who immediately regains consciousness.

Percy looks up and sees the king of the gods over him with me and Nico on either side.

"What just happened?" He asks.

"You were knocked out in an explosion, so we brought you here." I tell him.

"I don't remember an explosion..." He says.

"That's because you were at the heart of it. If you hadn't been in the water in the first place, you probably would have died." Nico tells him.

"What is this of an *underwater* explosion? You didn't say where the explosion was a moment ago." Poseidon says.

"Well, Percy was doing his thing in the water as I flew overhead. Then there was this gigantic flash of green and a huge explosion which sent Percy flying into the air." I explain.

"So they know how to use it now? Wonderful, just wonderful." Poseidon says to himself.

"Who knows how to use what?" I ask.

"My son, it appears that someone is once again trying to overthrow the gods. Poseidon's symbol of power, his trident has been stolen from him. We do not know who has done it." Zeus tells me.

"Don't forget about my helm." Hade says from his throne.

"Yes, Hades' helm of darkness has been stolen from his palace in the underworld as well. Only my master bolt remains, and I am determined to keep it safe. This is where you come in. Only my child could bear this task, so I am entrusting you to keep my master bolt safe for me." He tells me.

"So you... Want me to guard it? Or maybe hide it?" I ask.

"No my son. You will bear the master bolt at all times. I am going to merge your essence with the bolt itself." He tells me as he holds out the master bolt.

I see the bolt crackling with power before my eyes. The color was the exact same as Zeus's and my own eyes, except this had arcs of electricity racing across its surface. I now think about how very painful it will be to have this immense power bonded to me.

"You're going to put the bolt... In me?" I ask.

"Not necessarily in you, but the power will be bonded to your soul. That way you can call upon it at your choosing and keep it safe until we recover the other two symbols of power for Poseidon and Hades. Once you three recover them, we will bond them to your souls so you can defeat whoever it is who took them. As we suspect, they must be as powerful as us, if not more so to be able to steal and use our symbols of power." Zeus tells us.

"My son did it once before, but his mind was already being corrupted by Kronos at that time, so Kronos gave him the strength to carry out his task of stealing Zeus's bolt." Hermes tells me.

"Exactly, but we don't know who's doing it this time." Athena says.

"It couldn't be Kronos again, could it?" Nico asks.

"No, him and his powers were scattered in Tartarus again after his defeat. This could be some new enemy we have never encountered before, so we must destroy them." Zeus tells me.

"Okay... So is this going to hurt?" I ask my father.

"Yes... Probably a lot, too." He replies.

"Might as well do it then, there's nothing to lose." I say as I step towards my father and away from Nico and Percy.

I watch as Zeus shrinks himself down to a normal human size as well as his bolt. Zeus steps up to me and holds the bolt against my chest length wise.

"Are you ready?" He asks.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I answer him.

Zeus gives an understanding nod before I see his hands light up into two spheres of pure energy which spread to engulf the bolt now pressed against my chest. I feel the skin underneath where the bolt is start to sizzle and burn from the power of the bolt. I watch as the bolt slowly presses into my body as I let out an agonizing scream. It feels as if every atom in my body is being torn apart and stitched back together at the same time. I see my skin start to shine as bright as the bolt as it almost finished absorbing into my body. With one final scream, I feel my body explode into pure energy as the bolt finishes joining with my body. I can't really explain what happened next, but I could only describe it as an out of body experience. I see myself from above as my body turns to pure energy and explodes outwards sending Zeus, Nico and Percy to the floor. I watch as the light slowly dissipates until there's only a scorch mark on the ground to show that I ever even existed at all, since my body was completely gone.

"Hades! Is he dead? Can you sense if he's still alive?" Zeus asks.

"He isn't dead, just wait, he'll come back." Hades says as I feel myself being pulled back to the space where I was standing. I watch as a breeze creates a small vortex where I stood until my eyes flutter open once all my matter reformed into my body once again.

"Holy crap... Did I just explode?" I ask.

"I guess that's what happens when the most powerful weapon ever created is absorbed into a physical body." Zeus says as he stands back up.

"Allan, do you feel any different?" Poseidon asks.

"Yeah. I feel like I just drank a keg full of energy drinks and coffee. I've got more energy than I could ever think of using." I tell the gods.

"Good, so the bolt successfully bonded with you. I had no idea what would happen since this has never happened before. I've only been able to wield the bolt in its physical form, maybe you'll be able to tap into power I wasn't able to now that it's part of your soul." He tells me.

"This is so weird feeling... I feel much, much stronger, like I could lift a mountain." I tell them.

"You probably can. The damage that bolt can produce makes the mortal's atomic bombs look like soap bubbles popping." Zeus tells me.

I look at my hands and visualize the bolt within them. Me and everyone else watch as I fill my hands with balls of energy similar to what the master bolt looks like. Zeus even backs off once he feels the force and heat from my hands on him, which must mean it's powerful if it's hurting a god. I lower my hands and return the energy back to my body before addressing the gods again.

"So, what do we do now?" I ask.

"You track down the other symbols of power before the thief can cause some damage to the mortal world or Olympus." Zeus tells me.

"Any ideas on where to start looking?" Percy asks.

"Well, Allan should be able to sense power now, so whenever you feel a strong surge, go in that direction. Hades' helm of darkness will be the hardest to find, since its wearer will be completely shielded from all aspects of detection. Unless they make themselves known, you won't even know that they're there." Zeus tells us.

"Okay. We'll make sure your symbols get returned and we'll defeat whoever took them." I tell the gods as I leave to join Nico and Percy again.

"Let's go get Hades' helm." I say as we leave the hall.

"Here's a question. If whoever stole the trident and my dad's helm, wouldn't they have both with them? I mean, all we have to do is find them and take them both at the same time, that way we can get this over with." Nice says.

"Yeah, I agree. Allan, can you feel anything yet?" Percy asks.

"Mhmm. That way and that way." I say as I point both north and west.

"Two different places? How could the thief be in two places at once?" Percy asks.

"I don't know, but west feels a bit more... Restless, so we should head that way." I tell them as I walk to the edge of Olympus.

"We'll meet you on the ground." Nico tells me before grabbing Percy and shadow traveling down to the streets of New York.

I take a jump off the edge and start to plummet towards the streets below, but I've been told that it would take up to a week to fall from Olympus to the ground and another week on top of that to fall from the underworld to Tartarus. I don't really have that kind of time, so I start pushing myself downwards until I feel the power of the bolt take over. My body once again dematerializes and I rocket towards the Empire State Building as a bolt of lightning. I travel as fast as light until I pull out of the fall just as the lightning bolt strikes the building's lightning rod. I fly myself to the ground just as I see Nico and Percy emerging from the shadows next to the building.

"Let me guess, you were in that lightning bolt just now?" Percy asks.

"Well yeah, where else would I be?" I reply.

"Whatever, let's just get to that helm. Where is it? Can you tell?" Percy asks.

"Nevada desert... I don't know how I knew that..." I say.

"Maybe it's what Zeus said, you can sense power. So how are we getting there? I could shadow travel us, it'll tire me out pretty good, but I can do it." Nico tells me.

"You know in not a fan of that Nico." Percy says.

"Would you rather swim and get blown up again?" Nico replies.

"Well... I don't want to get blown up, so at least let me power up before we head off." Percy says.

Without knowing how I did it, I grab the two of them and dematerialize all of us into energy. I pull the two of them along at lightning speed until I come upon the shores of the harbor.

"How in Hades did you do that to me?" Percy asks as he rematerializes.

"New powers I guess, did it hurt?" I ask.

"No, not at all. It was like one minute we were at the Empire State Building and the next we're here. Teleportation maybe?" Percy asks.

"Nah, I could feel myself traveling, but it seems like you didn't. It hurt my eyes though, too much wind pressure or whatever. I'll be back." I say as I dematerialize again.

I fly along as fast as lighting could carry me until I spot a shop that I like. I reform myself again and take a pair of aviator goggles off of a rack outside and throw them on before taking off to return to Percy and Nico. The goggles, even though they dematerialize as well, still somehow served their purpose of keeping the wind out of my eyes. I land just as I see Percy jumping into the ocean.

"You weren't gone long, maybe a few seconds at most. That's pretty cool." Nico tells me.

"Yeah, had to pick something up for my eyes, the wind was bugging me when I went really fast. Anyway, how long will it take for Percy to regain his strength?" I ask.

"A few minutes, maybe even seconds since Zeus healed him earlier. He should be coming out any second now... Any second... Come on Percy." Nico says as he looks over into the water.

"You see him?" I ask.

"No, but that doesn't surprise me, this water is filthy." Nico tells me.

"Here, hold on a second." I tell him as I close my eyes and feel the power of my surroundings.

With my eyes closed and me concentrating, I can mentally see the outlines of large sources of power all around me. I see the outline of Nico standing in front of me as well as underground power lines, but I don't see anything coming from the water, except for a tiny spec a long ways away.

"I don't see him down there." I tell Nico.

"He left already? He'll have to swim for ages to get to the other side of the country, then inland a bit." He says.

"I saw a small amount of energy pretty far out, but it wasn't moving. You stay here, I'm going to go check it out." I tell Nico as I take to the sky.

I fly out fast as I close my eyes and visualize the source of the power. I start approaching the source just as the skyline behind me starts to disappear. I stop and hover above the water where the power seems to be coming from. I can make out two people's shapes far below in the water, but only one of them was moving around. The one that's moving around suddenly stopped and looked up towards me before hoisting his weapon. My vision suddenly goes bright green as the two figures below the water are completely blocked from view. I opened my eyes just in time to see a jet of green energy racing towards the surface. I close my left fist just in time for my shield to rotate into being before the attack strikes my shield and throws me backwards towards New York. I almost pass out from the force of the blast, but I recollect my mind before I plunge into the water. I know my powers won't work underwater, so I'm determined not to enter the domain of Poseidon. I pull myself out of the fall and try to sense the power signatures of the two beings I saw moments ago but I see that they've disappeared. I open my fist to allow my shield to disappear back into my glove before flying back to Nico to tell him the bad news.

"Whatever was out there must have Percy. I saw two people below the water but now they're gone." I tell him.

"I saw the explosion, you alright?" He asks.

"My arm's a bit sore from deflecting it and my head hurts, but other than that I'm fine. What do you think that was?" I ask.

"From the green energy blast and it coming from the water, I'd say it was Poseidon's trident. Whoever stole it must be able to use the waters now, so that's how they got Percy and got away so easily. Why didn't you just try and fry him while he was underwater?" Nico asks.

"Percy was there, I'd kill him if I did." I tell him.

"Are you able to see faces? Did you see what the person looked like?" Nico asks.

"No, I only saw their outline, but it looked male, so it's a guy." I answer.

"Well whoever this guy is, he has Percy. Can you sense the power of the trident again?" He asks.

I close my eyes and once again feel the powers around me. In my mind I see a full map of North America as if I were looking down from space. I see one little blip like dot of red light in Nevada and a green dot in the arctic of northern Canada. I pull myself back and tell Nico of what I saw.

"There's still two major sources of power in Nevada and northern Canada. One was red and the other green. Probably means that's where the helm and the trident are now located." I tell him.

"Let's get Percy first, then we'll go after the helm. I'll shadow travel us if you guide me to wherever the power is coming from." Nico says.

Nico walks over to me and grabs my arm and leads me into an alley and into the shadows. I feel as if I've stepped into a pool of black paint. I can't see anything except Nico along side me. Nico pulls me along as I tell him which way to head. I feel like I do when I turn into energy and fly along in the air except now I'm doing it on the ground as I run. I feel like I've traveled pretty far in only a few seconds, but soon we slow down as I see Nico getting more tired by the second. Me and Nico stop running abruptly as if we hit a brick wall.

"You okay Nico?" I ask in a voice that sounds like I held a pillow over my mouth.

I look to my side and see Nico hovering beside me limp as a fish. I see that his feet are bound together by a band of red energy and his arms are being held out at his sides by the same energy. He looked as if he was dead and hanging from a crucifix. I feel the darkness around me start to waver as I see a man slowly walk out of the shadows. Upon his head was a helmet of material darker than the darkness around us. I could see blonde hair coming from beneath the helm and eyes of pure gold. The boy's face was handsome yet evil all at the same time. I light up my hands with balls of electricity but the man just waves his hand and sent me flying through the air until I hit the ground. I look up just in time to see the guy wrap his arms around Nico's body before the two of them dissolve into the shadows bringing the darkness around them with them.

"Come back you coward!" I yell out at the figure disappearing with Nico.

I'm too late though, the darkness around me lifts and I'm left standing on an abandoned stretch of road. I close my eyes and try to sense the power again, but all I see is the green dot up north. I keep watching as the red dot slowly reappears in the desert until both are clearly visible.

"So I can only see him when he isn't shadow traveling... That could be a problem." I say to myself.

I search for myself until I find a blue dot in southern Ontario, close to my home town. I plot myself a course before I fly into the sky and towards my home. I think to myself about the predicament that I'm currently in. Percy was hurt again and captured, Nico was detained and taken away, and I have no idea what to do or who to save first. I pass Toronto as I fly overhead and continue a bit further north. I descend after about ten minutes of flying until I land in my own back yard. The sky has since darkened into a navy blue with the sun barely still on the horizon. I walk around my house until I come to the front door and take my keys out of my pocket. I hear the tv on inside and I hear a few people talking. I open the door and hear everything go quite until my mother runs out of the living room and throws herself into my arms.

"Allan, I'm sorry, I didn't know about your father..." She cries as she hugs me.

"Mom, it's ok, there's nothing to worry about. I know what happened but I'm still a little confused." I tell her.

"What about dad?" I hear my sister call from the living room.

"Nothing sis, don't worry." I call back.

"Why is mom crying?" My older brother asks as he appears at the door to the living room.

"I'll explain in a minute." I say as I lead my mom back into the living room.

I sit her down beside her husband and I take a vacant chair in front of the rest of my family. My brothers and sister as well as my "father" are all staring at me with a bit of concern as my mom tries to pull herself together.

"Okay, so what's wrong?" My father asks.

"Did she not tell you?" I ask.

"Tell me what?" He replies.

"Chiron sent a message... You didn't tell them yet?" I ask my mom who just shakes her head no.

"Well... I don't know how to say this any other way, but you're not actually my father." I tell him.

"Son, I'm pretty sure I remember conceiving you, so you are mine." He says.

"Do you remember going to a party about seventeen years ago? Do you remember getting drunk out of your mind?" I ask.

"How do you know about that?" He replies, a little bit of concern and regret in lingering in voice.

"Well, that night you and mom swung with a few other people, only someone else, someone important had been with her as well." I shudder as I say that.

"So? Are you saying that you're someone else's kid? We got married and had you that very same year." He says.

"Maybe, but I wasn't your child." I tell him.

"Are you still our brother though?" My younger brother asks.

"Yeah bud, we have the same mom, just different dads." I tell him.

"Well, who is your real dad then?" My older brother asks.

"Ah, we're finally on this topic. His name is one you might know." I say with a slight pause. "His name is Zeus." I say.

My brother just bursts out laughing as I say that the Greek god Zeus is my father. It takes a few minutes but he soon calms down again.

"You done?" I ask.

"I guess so, but you must be pretty high to think that the Greek gods are real and that Zeus is your dad." He says with another laugh.

"Do you remember him mom? Jet black hair, eyes like mine. Strong, immortal, that kind of thing." I say.

"I... I sort of do... It's not very clear though... I got pretty drunk that night." She says.

"Wait, you're telling me this is true?" My father asks.

"Yes, it is." She says.

"But the gods aren't real! They're just myths." He says.

"Nope, they're quite real and very powerful. I'm about as strong as any of them right now too." I tell them.

"You're a god? Ha! You are high." My brother says.

"No, I'm not a god, but being a son of Zeus as well as having the entire power of his master lightning bolt fused to my soul makes me pretty damn strong." I tell him.

"Oh yeah, prove it, then I'll believe you." He says.

I just shrug and take my jacket and gloves off before holding out my arms to show that I don't have anything there to help me. I then hold my hands open and about a foot away from one another before summoning a current of electricity to pass from one hand to the next. I watch as everyone in the room jump backwards as I maintain the current going through my hands.

"Holy hell! How are you doing that?" My father yells out.

"I just told you, so calm down." I say as I stop the arc between my hands.

"Well then... You are his kid... Now what?" He asks.

"Well, two of my friends just got captured and taken across the continent, so I need to rescue them and reclaim the god's symbols of power. I have within me Zeus's master bolt, but Poseidon's trident and Hades' helm of darkness are still in the hands of whoever stole them." I explain.

"Are we supposed to help at all?" My mom asks.

"I don't think you can to be honest, but if it's okay, I'll stay here tonight and leave tomorrow." I tell her.

"Of course you can stay here, this is your home." She tells me.

"Sorry, I've been living at camp half blood all week, I've almost forgot about my own house." I say.

"What's 'camp half blood'?" My sister asks.

"Oh, it's a place where the children of the gods go to be safe and to get trained to kill monsters. Oh, and we play this version of capture the flag which is pretty much Greek warfare in a forest." I tell her.

"Monsters?" She asks as her voice wavers.

"Don't worry, I've got this to protect me." I say as I put my gloves back on and close my right fist to make my sword appear.

"Uh... A baseball bat... Where'd you get that from, it looks like it just appeared." My brother says.

I see that they all have a layer of The Mist covering their eyes to what is truly before them, so I wave my hand through the air to rid them of this mist. They only seem slightly surprised to see a three foot long celestial bronze sword appear in my hand, so they just accept it and move on. My mom makes me some food before I head up to my bedroom to sleep. As I'm getting ready for bed, my younger brother walks into the room.

"So... Is there anything else you can do? You made the sword appear and the electricity earlier... Can you do anything else?" He asks.

"Well, I can make thunder and lightning as well as fly." I tell him.

"You can fly!" He says.

"Yup, see." I say as I float a foot off the ground.

"Wow... That's cool..." He says.

"Yeah, just try not to tell anyone, mortals aren't really supposed to know about demigods." I tell him as I land again.

"Okay, I won't. So, what kind of monsters are there? Do they eat people and breath fire and stuff?" He asks.

"Some do. I haven't come across any yet, but I'll let you know about the ones I do when I see them, deal?" I tell him.

"Deal." He says.

"Wonderful, now, how would you like to fly as well?" I ask.

"You can do that?" He asks.

"Of course. Zeus is the god of the sky, that means I can control the very air itself. Now close your eyes." I tell him.

My brother is practically jumping up and down with excitement as he closes his eyes for me. I use my power to float him up to the ceiling before letting him open his eyes.

"Okay, open them." I tell him.

"Wow! I'm flying! Mom! I'm flying!" He calls out as I float him around the room.

I see my mom come to the door as I sit down on my bed and continue to fly my brother all over the place. She just laughs as she sees him start trying to swim through the air until she tells him it's time to go to bed, so I gently put him back down on the ground before my mom takes him to his room. I decide to keep the magic gloves on that I got from Leo earlier, that way if I need to fight, I'll be ready. It may feel a bit uncomfortable when I'm sleeping, but I'll be safe.

That night, my dreams reveal scenes of what I believe to be real things happening. I watch as the man I saw take Nico appears from the shadows in the corner of a room followed by Nico held up by the same red energy he caught him with. I watch as he approaches a throne of ice where another person sat. The person was a carbon copy of the first, so I assumed that they were twins. That would explain how they could be in two places at once.

I watch as the first guy takes off the helm to reveal his face. Once again I see his blonde hair and his pure golden eyes. The one sitting in the chair shares every feature as the one from the shadows except he held Poseidon's trident in his hand.

"Good afternoon brother, I see you succeeding in capturing the son of Hades." The one on the throne says to the one from the shadows.

I can only describe the man's voice as sounding like a knife scraping over stone. He had a royal and haughty aspect to his voice, but there was still the same sound of malice and evil. These two had to be from a powerful god, otherwise they wouldn't be able to do what they've done.

"Can we make the trade now? Have you captured the son of Poseidon?" The first asks.

The second brother on the throne just struck the bottom of the trident on the floor. I watched as a block of ice rises from the floor with Percy trapped within. The brother on the throne pointed the trident at the block which caused everything but the icy binds holding Percy to instantly evaporate. He still seems to be unconscious, so the brother just lifts the trident and floats Percy over to the first brother who then gives the other Nico.

"Well done brother, now, what are we to do with the son of Zeus watching us?" The second brother with Hades' helm asks.

I completely forgot that I was actually watching them, though I didn't know that they could see or sense me. I see both brothers turn their heads until they're staring directly at the spot where I'm watching from. The second brother stands up off his throne and hoists the trident towards me. I see green energy surge over all three points until I can feel the energy heating up the room. I close my eyes just as the trident's power is unleashed at me and open them to see the ceiling of my bedroom.

"Oh my gods... There's two of them..." I groan as I sit up in bed.

I see on my bedside table that my clock read 4:12am, way too early for me to normally be awake. I try to lay back down and sleep but my body won't let me, so I get up and get dressed so I can fly myself downstairs without making a noise. I enter the kitchen at 4:15am to grab myself something to eat before leaving to fly around and clear my head. To maintain the silence in the house, I use my powers to float all the ingredients for a sandwich around until they assemble into my snack. I hear a shuffle from the living room just as I'm closing the fridge door, so I turn around and see my now step father laying on the couch.

"That's kinda creepy you know..." He says.

"I know, I thought so too when I started doing it." I tell him.

"So... Uh... What does it feel like to be... Uh..." He mumbles.

"A demigod? Weird as all Hades, but cool none the less. I've always wants to have powers... Now I guess I do." I tell him as I sit down in a chair to eat my sandwich.

"Why haven't you shown any signs before?" He asks.

"I guess I've never really tried to use them until a few days ago. I always thought powers were for people in movies, I never thought they'd be real. Then again, whenever I've been sad or angry it has started to rain or storm, so that was a sign, plus I usually give people a static shock when I touch them." I explain.

My father just remains silent for a while until I finish eating and stand up.

"You leaving?" He asks.

"I have to. Otherwise the world will get utterly wrecked by the two who stole the symbols of power." I say.

My father stands to see me out but the two of us stop when a fire suddenly bursts into existence in my fire place. My father almost runs for the fire extinguisher when the fire gets high into the chimney but stops when I hold him back.

"Random fire here, I'm going to put it out!" He says.

"No, not random... Intentional..." I say.

I sit and watch until a young woman, about my age emerges in a coal black dress from the flames. She ducks under the arch of the mantle before stepping out into the living room. Even though she was just standing in soot and ash, not a single speck landed on the floor. I see that she's carrying a small black handbag typical of someone who looks as young as she does, about sixteen or seventeen. My father just stares in disbelief as she looks at the two of us with a pleasant smile.

"Hello hero, are you alright?" Hestia asks.

"I've been better. How are things on Olympus?" I ask.

"Could be better." She replies.

"Okay... Who is this girl who just stepped out of my fireplace?" My father asks.

"Please forgive me for not introducing myself, my name is Hestia, goddess of the hearth." She says as she holds out her hand.

My father approaches her with a little caution before taking her hand and giving a quick shake. He retreats back to the couch as Hestia turns to face me again.

"Is he alright?" She asks.

"You just stepped out of my fireplace, so I'm a bit freaked out." He admits.

"Mortals... They always see the weird side of things, not the immortal being who just came directly to their home to visit, oh no! The only thing they notice is that I made some fire that wasn't there before... Oo, so scary." She jokes.

"Not that I don't appreciate you coming here, but is there a reason?" I ask.

"Yes Allan. Things on Olympus have gone from bad to worse. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades are all losing their grip of their domains, Zeus less so because his bolt is safe with you, but the other two are facing severe consequences. The seas are turning violent and turbulent and the underworld is starting to weaken which is allowing monsters from Tartarus to spill out into the world. I would expect to come across many monsters before your task is complete." She explains.

"Well that sucks... I've found a few things out which I should tell the gods, but going back to Olympus will only prolong me getting to Percy and Nico." I tell her.

"What is wrong with the other two?" She asks.

"They've been captured by the thieves who stole the symbols of power." I tell her.

"Thieves? There is more than one thief?" She asks with uncertainty.

"Yes, which is why I need to speak with the rest of the gods. I've seen them in one of my dreams, which I need to tell them. Maybe they have some clues as to who they are." I tell her.

"I agree. Here, take these." She says as she holds out two plastic baggies and a sealed water bottle of what looks like honey which she took from her bag.

"This is ambrosia and nectar, along with some drachmas so you can send an Iris message." She explain. "Just be sure never to eat either of these in large quantities or you'll combust into ash. Only use them when you're injured and need help."

"Thank you Hestia, I can't thank you enough. How can I repay you for this?" I ask.

"Repay me by coming back alive." She says as she gives me another hug.

I give her a nod of understanding as she steps back over to the fireplace. She gives another kind smile before crouching down to step into the fire before disappearing once again. I look at my dad who still seems to be in shock a little, so I decide to talk to him before he starts questioning his sanity.

"So... How did you like Hestia?" I ask.

"Well... She wasn't what I thought she would be... I thought the gods were always angry and always smiting people..." He says.

"No... She's nice..." I say as I let my mind wander to what it would be like to be her boyfriend.

"You crushing there, son?" He asks with a devilish smile.

"Well yeah, she's amazing!" I say as the flames burn a deep red once more.

"She's a goddess... Literally... Well done." He says with a chuckle.

"Yeah... Well, I'll be off. Let everyone know I'm safe... I hope... I've gotta go send an Iris message, so I guess I'll grab some of my stuff and leave." I tell him.

I quickly fly myself upstairs to grab my black Atom Bag from my room before I put the water bottle of nectar and the two baggies inside, after I take one of the drachmas out first that is. I retrieve my backpack which one of my friends must have brought home for me and take out my cellphone as well as a small notebook and a pen. I quickly write down what happened in my vision while it's still fresh in my mind so I can retell it to the gods soon. I stash all my items into my bag and sling it over my body before heading back downstairs. I end up running into my mother in the hallway outside my door just as I'm closing it and turning around.

"Are you leaving already?" She asks.

"Yeah, I've got to head out before it's too late. I may be the only hope Olympus has. If only you were up a few minutes ago, you would have met Hestia." I tell her.

"Who's Hestia?" She asks.

"She's the goddess of the hearth and my potential future girlfriend." I say.

"A goddess was here? Why?" She asks.

"She gave me some supplies and some information, now I have to go and tell the other gods what I've learned. I had a pretty freaky dream a little while ago, and demigods don't get normal dreams like others do, we usually get visions of what is happening somewhere else in the world relating to what we are focusing on at the time." I explain.

"Well... Be careful. Try to come back to me in one piece." She says as she gives me a hug.

"I'll have to, if not then the bad guys win and Olympus is destroyed along with the rest of the world. Try not to think about impending doom or anything, since as long as I'm alive nothing of the sort will happen." I tell her.

She walks me downstairs where my father is waiting at the door. I stop and hold out my hand which he takes and gives me a firm handshake. I also give him and my mom a hug before stepping outside. The sun has not risen yet, so it's still plenty dark out for me to fly off unnoticed by people on the ground or in their houses.

"The door will always be open for you when you return, just remember that. If you choose to stay at your camp, just let us know, we understand." My father tells me.

"Thanks. Remember, don't tell anyone about who I am or you'll be getting some really weird phone calls and a trip to the loony bin. If anyone asks where I went, just say that I got accepted to a university out in Hawaii or something, just make it sound convincing. Now, I've got to go and find something that produces mist so I can send my message. Bye guys." I say before I lift off.

I look back and see my parents waving as I take to the sky in search of something to send my message in private. I roam the sky until I spot a city park below me. I carefully descend into the park near a fountain that luckily is still on. I take my drachma out of my pocket before thinking about what to do next.

"Crap... Annabeth never told me how to do this..." I say as I awkwardly stand near the fountain.

"Uh... Gods of Olympus please." I say as if I was talking to an old telephone operator.

I sit and wait as nothing happens, so I decide to throw the drachma into the mist, seeing as how I probably have to pay for Iris to make the call. I watch as my drachma disappears into the mist before small glowing letters appear in the mist.

"Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering... Well that'll work I guess... Please show me... Insert person or place here... Uh, the gods of Olympus please." I say as the mist shifts color until the throne room of the gods was in front of me once again.

I can see Zeus, Poseidon and Hades sitting on their thrones, yet the other Olympians seemed to be absent. Zeus ends up seeing my image floating in the room because he quickly jumps off his throne and shrinks to my size as he stops in front of me. Poseidon and Hades also join him until all three elder gods are standing before me.

"Any news on your quest?" Zeus asks.

"Yes, bad news unfortunately." I tell them.

"What has happened?" Poseidon asks.

"Well... I don't know how to put this gently..." I say.

"Just spit it out boy, don't waste out time!" Hades says.

"Fine then, jeez. Percy and Nico have been captured by the thieves. " I tell them.

"There's more than one!" Zeus yells.

"So that's how they got my trident and the helm at the same time..." Poseidon says.

"Yes, two twin brothers. I know where they are, but getting to them and freeing Nico and Percy while fighting them off might be harder than I imagine. I had a dream where one of the brothers came from the shadows, using your helm Hades, with Nico I bound beside him. He ended up trading Nico for Percy who the brother on a throne of ice had, the one with your trident Poseidon. Now the one with the helm is in the Nevada desert and the one with the trident is in the arctic somewhere. They ended finding out I was watching through my dream and shut me out before I saw any more." I tell them.

"Tell me what they looked like." Zeus says.

"Well, they were tall, almost six feet, they were a bit lanky but strong, they had blonde hair and glowing gold eyes. Oh, and their voices sounded like metal being dragged over stone." I tell them.

"I watch as all three elder gods stare in disbelief as I tell them what I saw. I watch as Zeus drops his head and walks away shaking his head as if he can't comprehend what he just heard. Hades just looks shocked and Poseidon had his hand covering his mouth to prevent his jaw from dropping at my words, so I ask if they're all right.

"What's wrong? Is that bad?" I ask them.

"It appears..." Zeus starts before turning around to face me again. "It appears that Kronos has some mortal children."


	4. Chapter 4

From my lack of a response, the three elder gods simply looked baffled at how I'm not panicking or even looking scared. They just stare at me as I stare back, completely void of emotion.

"So... That's bad?" I ask.

"Dear heavens boy! Have you no knowledge of Kronos?" Zeus asks.

"I've heard of him but never really researched the topic... I'm still kinda new to the whole demigod thing..." I admit.

"Kronos is our father, your grandfather. He tried to destroy the gods but we fought back and overthrew him from the throne. We diced him up with his own scythe and cast his remains in Tartarus. He almost made it into his body two years ago through the use of Luke Castellan, a son of Hermes. Luke allowed Kronos to use his body as a vessel until Kronos could achieve one of his own, and it almost happened. During that time, Kronos must have been with a mortal woman to produce two mortal offspring. Kronos is the lord of time, he must have used his powers to speed up the aging process of his children until they were roughly your age now. If Kronos succeeded in aging his sons to maturity, he surely would have overthrown us and destroyed Olympus. These two... I don't even know if we can call them demigods, since Kronos is a Titan... Must be powerful and not to be taken lightly. You just be on your guard at all times." Zeus explains.

"Well... Damn. Kronos had mortal kids who are attempting to continue in his footsteps by taking your power and using it against you... And I have to defeat them... Wonderful." I mumble to myself.

"If we could be of assistance to you, we would, but our power is all but gone and you hold the master bolt. You son are more powerful than I as of now. I want you to swear to me that you will not let the presence of power misdirect your actions towards evil. Swear on the Styx that you won't attempt to destroy us with our own power when you obtain it." Zeus tells me.

"I swear on the Styx that as long as I am in my right mind, I will never attempt to overthrow the gods of Olympus." I recite.

"Good, now you need to be off, the longer the brothers hold the trident and helm, the stronger they get, but so do you. Let's just hope you become their superior." Zeus says.

I nod to the three gods before waiving my hand through the image to end the call. The sun had started to rise by the time I finished my call, so I walk out of the park with my eyes closed visualizing the positions of the trident and helm. I don't see the helm in Nevada, but the trident was still in the arctic, so I don't think I'll have to worry about it moving.

I hike through the city for another hour until I reach the western edge of the city. I emerge onto a highway which is completely barren. I can see many kilometers in either direction, but still no cars. Come to think of it, I don't hear any bird singing or even the breeze in the trees. It's as if the world suddenly froze around me. I look around until I see a black mass moving towards me from down the highway. Even from the distance I was at, I can see that it was massive, but not a car. It seemed to be... Leaping...

"Hellhound?" I ask yourself.

The monster had to be fast because it ran a kilometer in under a minute. I zip up my jacket so that my armor appeared over my body. I fly about twenty feet in the air and summon my sword and shield just as the monster comes within a few hundred feet of me. I raise my sword to get ready to strike the monster down but suddenly I feel something smash into me from behind bringing me to the ground. Hard. Luckily my armor took the force of the impact so that I was spared for the most part. I can see the first hellhound standing over me growling and snapping at me while the second, which I didn't see, chomped down on me pinning my arms to my side. It didn't help that my hands opened and my sword and shield disappeared when I got pinned either. The second hellhound lifts me up off the ground in its mouth before taking off towards the shadows. I feel the same blackness as before sweep over me as the hellhound shadow travels with me captured in the hellhound's mouth.

"No no no no no no no! Ah screw it." I say as I electrocute the hellhound carrying me.

I feel its jaw and the rest of its body evaporate as I tumble through the darkness and out into a sunny courtyard. I take a look at myself but I don't see anything broken on my armor. Thanks Hephaestus cabin. I start brushing myself off as the second hellhound reappears from the shadows just beyond a tree further in the courtyard. I watch it growl and bar its teeth as I summon my sword and shield again. Glancing behind me, I regain my sense of security and advance on the monster. I see it slowly start to back up as I advance, but before it can disappear I lunge forwards and sink my sword through the side of its neck instantly evaporating it as well. I release my weapons and unzip my jacket before taking a good look around. I seem to be in a courtyard for a school or maybe even a personal home, so I quickly throw some Mist over myself before flying into the sky. From my vantage point I can see the Rocky Mountains way off in the distance. So far that they only appear as small bumps on the horizon. I know they're the Rockies because Canada doesn't really have any other mountain ranges. I fly myself into an ally and wipe The Mist off of myself before continuing into the street. It's still dark here, so I try and stay on big roads because I don't know what could be in the shadows, let alone who could be there.

"You lost kid?" I hear next to me.

I nearly draw my sword before I see that it's just an officer walking to his cruiser. I stop and look around before answering.

"Not really... But sorta. I uh... Need to get to the States, any border crossings nearby?" I ask.

"What do you need to go across the border for all on your own?" He asks.

"I'm going to try and find some of my family." I tell him.

I'm quite proud of my quick thinking. What I said wasn't a lie, but it was genius none the less.

"So you are lost." He says.

"Well, yeah. I know where they are though, they're in Nevada. Do you know the quickest way of getting there?" I ask.

"Well, you could always bus it. It might cost a bit of money but you'll get there. Is there anything I can help you with before you leave?" He asks.

"No, I'll be fine. Now, which way is the closest bus terminal?"

"Two blocks down and three over."

"Okay, thanks." I say as I take off down the road.

I glance back and see the officer get in his cruiser and drive away just as a man appears behind the car. I can only see his eyes and his clothes, but that's all I need to see. His golden eyes stared at me unblinkingly as a wicked smile spread across his face. A smile that someone who enjoys killing small animals would adopt, one of evil and unyielding malice. I reveal my weapon and start to advance when he just melts back into the shadows.

"Boo." I hear in my ear.

I spin around and slice through the air with my sword but it doesn't meet anything on the way down. I spin around until I'm sure that the son of Kronos is gone, which isn't really possible since he could be chilling in the shadows watching me as I spin like an idiot. I release my weapons and quickly take off towards the bus terminal with the winds aiding my steps. I arrive at the terminal and see several busses waiting for early morning passengers. I enter the building and check the bus number for one that crosses into the states before returning outside to the appropriate line. I join the group and throw a blanket of Mist over everyone there. The driver checks everyone's tickets but bypasses me to go to the next person. No one seemed to even see me which was a plus. I sit a few rows back on the right hand side so I can have a clear view out of the windshield when the bus is moving. I keep myself awake during the long rides by playing games on my phone and watching YouTube videos. I use my powers to keep it fully charged and have a perfect signal, but soon noticed the increasing number of monsters that I pass by on the road. I Google "camp half-blood" and it actually shows up as a website. It must only work for demigods though, since that would be awkward for a mortal to stumble across. The site looked like it was designed by a master web stylist. Everything was symmetrical and appealing to the eye. I search the site and find information about previous activities and things that went on at camp recently and even a list of deaths from the last ten years, but what I'm really searching for is a list of cabin leaders. I have to search for a while until I find the Athena cabin's page and see a picture of Annabeth and some contact information below. I copy the phone number and input it into my phone before calling. It rings a few times until I hear Annabeth pick up on the other end.

"Hello?" She says.

"Annabeth? It's Allan. Listen, I was wondering if you could give me any information on Kronos and maybe even on monsters since I seem to be attracting a lot of them." I tell her.

"That could be because you're using a cell phone. Technology attracts monsters like a beacon. Hey, tasty demigod over here, come and get it! Also, where are you? Could you out Percy on?" She asks.

"Annabeth... I'm uh... I'm on my way to Nevada. We're close to the border right now." I tell her.

"How'd you get across the country so quickly?" She asks.

"Uh... Shadow traveling." I say.

"Aw man, Percy hates when Nico does that. Anyway, can you put him on? I want to talk to him." She says.

"I can't put Percy on right now, mainly because he isn't-" I say before cutting myself off.

"He isn't what, Allan?"

"Percy isn't... Well... With me." I answer.

"Well where in Tartarus is he? And you'd better not say Tartarus! I've been there and it's pretty terrible." She says.

"I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to freak you out... But Percy got... Uh... Captured." I say when I get to a loss of words.

"... No freaking way... How in Hades did he let himself get captured? And by who?" She asks.

"He was wounded in an explosion but Zeus healed him. He then entered the ocean to regain his strength and got blasted again. The guy who took him was, and you're not going to believe this, Kronos' half blood son." I explain.

"WHAT! KRONOS HAS A HALF BLOOD SON!" She yells.

"... Two actually... They're twins..." I admit as I facepalm.

"Hold on Allan, you're telling this to Chiron." She says before I hear her take off running.

I hear her run and occasionally call out Chiron's name until I hear horse hooves on the wooden front porch of the big house.

"Annabeth? What's wrong?" He asks.

"Let him... Tell you..." I hear her pant as she hands over the phone.

"Hello? Who is this?" He asks.

"Chiron, it's Allan. We have a MASSIVE problem. It turns out that there are two thieves who stole the helm and the trident. Try not to topple over when I tell you this, but the thieves are Kronos' twin half blood sons. He had children during the battle of New York a few years ago and he used his powers to speed up their aging. I'm on my way to confront one brother and free Percy at the same time." I tell him.

"KRONOS HAS HALF BLOOD SONS!" I hear him yell out.

"I bet you just put the whole camp on lockdown didn't you?" I ask.

"Yes. Every demigod present has taken up a post defending some part of the camp or patrolling the border. We have even more now than we did prior to the war as well as the golden fleece in Thalia's tree, so our barrier should hold out monsters, but half bloods of Kronos... We've never faced anyone like that before... I don't even think it was possible... I didn't even think about it until now!" He tells me.

"I've encountered one brother twice now. Once when he captured Nico and the second when he found me after his hellhounds tried to take me to gods know where earlier today. Both times he vanished before I could approach him, so I haven't been able to see what they can do yet." I tell him.

"They have Nico? What about Percy? Is he alright?" Chiron asks.

"No, Percy was caught in an explosion on the way to Olympus. The brother with Poseidon's trident undoubtably tried to take Percy out quickly but failed. My father healed him and as we were leaving New York, Percy jumped back into the water to regain his strength. He got hit and captured and taken all over the place to try and confuse me. Nico got caught when he took me through the shadows to go after Percy. Taking me with him tired him out and the second brother took him when he was too exhausted to fight back. I'm on my own now and I'm heading to Nevada, that's where the brother with the Helm of Darkness is, and he has Percy, so I'm going there then to the arctic for Nico." I explain.

"How do you know where they are?" Chiron asks.

"So many questions... Okay, when we reached Olympus, Zeus entrusted me with the master bolt so I can keep it safe and out of the hands of Kronos' sons. He merged the bolt with my soul so now I can sense sources of power and I'm super powerful and stuff." I tell him.

"Fascinating... Merging a symbol of power to your essence... Ingenious Zeus... Ingenious." He says.

"Anyways, can you put Annabeth on, I need some more info from her." I say.

"What else do you need?" Annabeth asks.

"Ok, so I'm going to be fighting against an item that can hide the user from all forms of detection, any tips on fighting him when I can't locate him?" I ask.

"Truthfully, just wait for him to show up before you attack, that way you at least know where he is momentarily. Other than that, just stay on your guard and remember to use your skills against him, it's the best option you have. Just make sure Percy is safe. Either he comes back okay or I personally break you and throw you into Tartarus, got it?" She asks.

"I understand Annabeth, Percy will be fine. Now, I gotta go, there's a big as Hades bull looking thing blocking the road at the border." I tell her.

"The Minotaur? Ha, have fun." She says before she hangs up.

I stash my phone into my bag and adjust my gloves before stepping off the bus when it stops. I see the Minotaur standing with a large two handed sword on the far side of the border. He just huffs and puffs at me but doesn't charge. I fly myself over the fences and guards until I'm on the far side of the Minotaur. Deciding to have some fun, I taunt the monster until he charges me. I close my fists to produce my sword and shield before launching into the air to swipe at him from above. Although he may look stupid, he sure wasn't. He anticipated my attack and swiped upwards to try and hit me but only managed to hit my shield. The blow sent my shield right off my forearm and out under a car. I land and hold out my hand as I use the winds to push the shield through the air and back onto my arm before attacking again. This time I send a wave of air to knock the monster off balance then I slash at his leg to drop him so that he's crouching on his uninjured leg. The Minotaur hefted his massive sword and swiped beside him to where I stood. I jump back and deflect his attack and send an electrical shock through the sword.

"How do you like that you over grown cow? Come on, get up!" I call out to it.

I watch as the Minotaur blows steam out of his nose before rising to his feet and charging again. I quickly lunge forward with the winds to push past his sword where I end up impaling the monster with my blade. He doesn't dissolve immediately, so I send more electricity through the sword until the monster exploded into a cloud of yellow dust.

I return to the bus and sit down as the doors close and I drive on past the border without a second thought. Still nobody saw me so I was relatively safe in terms of being unseen and unquestioned. I make a small, thin electrical cage around me before I lay down on the seat to get some sleep. Once again, as soon as my eyes shut I see the brothers standing together talking.

"What is taking this hero so long? I want a good fight." The one with the trident said.

"Your time will come brother, don't you worry. I could have fought the son of Zeus earlier today, but I'm letting him come to me, which it seems he's pretty fond of." The second says as he turns to face me.

"Ah, back again are we? Didn't you ever learn not to snoop?" The first asks.

"Mmm, too bad you can't fight in a dream, we'd kill you easily." The second brother says.

I try to open my mouth to talk but I feel like I have no vocal cords. It's like I'm just a head floating in the air, bodiless. I sit and watch as the two brothers start to laugh at my feeble attempts at fighting.

"Look out Angus, he's coming to get us! Oo, he looks mean, maybe he'll even get a hit on me before I take his head off." The first brother says.

"You're weak hero, as weak as the other two we've captured already. You will not win, so give up and go home. You'll live a little longer if you do not challenge us." The second brother Angus tells me.

"I say let him come, I want to see his face as I kill his friend before I kill him." The first brother says.

"Fat chance Elian, he's on his way to me, so I get him first, and I don't plan on losing to someone like him." Angus says.

I watch as Angus stands and swipes his hand through the space where I was. My eyes flutter open and I see the ceiling of the bus I was riding in. I couldn't feel it moving, so I sit up and and look outside. I can see the bus parked at another terminal with people walking around outside. I put my backpack back on and push open the door to get outside. The sky was darkening, probably mid afternoon. I can see a McDonald's down the road so I start walking towards it. I haven't eaten since early this morning, so I'm pretty hungry. I check my power sensing powers as I sit and eat my food in the restaurant. I can see both Angus and Elian in the arctic in Elian's usual spot. I take my drink with me as I explore the city I arrived in. In the downtown area, I find a city map with a "you are here" arrow and a compass. I can see from the map that I'm currently facing east. I turn and follow the road I'm on for an hour and a half until I'm tired once again. I see a road sign that advertises a motel that's a few miles down the road which is completely flat and open highway. With the sky darkening even further, I fly into the sky and make my way towards the motel.

"I don't know if I'll be safe at a motel in the middle of nowhere... But I have to sleep... Sometime..." I say as I yawn.

I'm still about a mile away before I hear a van screech to a halt below me. I stop and look down just as an arrow pierces my left leg. I feel myself fall a bit before I catch myself and summon out my shield. Another arrow glances of the shield's face as I lower myself to the ground. I see seven women emerge from a black van that pulled over on the side of the road. The women had normal bodies except for their legs which consisted of two massive snake like... Snakes pretty much. Three wielded bows, two had spears, one had a sword and the last had an ax.

"Snake women? Too easy." I say as I strike the first down with a quick bolt of lighting.

I draw my sword and deflect an incoming arrow off my shield as I lunge for the closest enemy. I knock her sword out of her hands and take her head off with the next swipe. The sword I knocked out of her hand had a bit of power behind it, so it flew through the air and sunk into the chest of one of the archers. Both monsters evaporated into yellow dust as I spun around to face the others. I can feel the blood seeping down my leg from the arrow still embedded in it. I charge and slam my shield into the one with the ax who gets knocked off her balance and thrown into the archer behind her. I jump into the air and bring my sword down through both of them at the same time killing them both.

The last archer fires an arrow at me which catches me in the left shoulder as I turn around when the other with the spear lunged for me. I stumble backwards as the the arrow sinks into my shoulder as the one with the spear catches me under the leg and brings me to the ground. I roll to my side as she brings her spear down so I can hoist myself to my feet. I grab her around the throat and send a current of electricity straight into her which evaporates her in an instant.

"Last one, come on!" I tell at the final snake woman.

She notches another arrow and let's it fly which I just side step to dodge. I slowly walk towards her as she fires arrow after arrow until she runs out entirely. I reach her and stand face to face as she bars her teeth and hisses at me.

"You're not even scary... You sure you're a monster? Maybe just an ugly woman, but definitely not a monster." I tell her to provoke her into attacking.

The snake lady hisses some more before lunging froward to bite me in the neck. Luckily I was expecting just that, so I dematerialize and reappear behind her in a fraction of a second. I grab the monster under the jaw and the side of the head before I quickly jerk my arms and watch as she dissolves into more yellow powder. When I finally stop to compose myself and catch my breath, I feel the entirety of the pain from the wounds I suffered. At camp I never took a single good hit, so I didn't know what it would feel like, but now I do. I clench my teeth as I start to pull out the arrow imbedded in my shoulder. I have to work it out and through the chink in the armor it came in through before I can take my bag off to get to my ambrosia and nectar. I see that Hestia left a note inside the baggy of ambrosia that reminded me not to eat much of it or I'll die. I take two small squares of the ambrosia and pop them in my mouth as I sit down to work out the arrow in my leg. Knowing that I'm going I be healed anyway, I cut the shaft with my sword and push the rest through the other side of my leg. The ambrosia tasted weirdly like the stake that my step dad made on special occasions. Perfect for calming me down and relaxing me for the job of pulling out the arrow. Once the shaft was out of my leg, I watch as the wound slowly closes and starts to mend before my eyes. I can feel the wound in my shoulder also close as the ambrosia works its magic. After I stand up, I unzip my jacket to return it to it's normal state before I carry on down the road. Only a few cars have passed me during my fight and after, so I'm not worried about someone stopping and asking what I was doing on the highway at night. I arrive at the motel as I see an attractive red headed girl get out of an expensive looking car with who I presume is her father due to them looking alike. The girl spots me and sees the blood on my leg and what is left dripping off my hand but quickly heads toward the main office.

"Look at us, having to stay in a damn motel because the Cadi is broken down." The man says at they get to the door.

"Dad, chill. Motels aren't bad, this one looks well kept and it even looks nice." The girl says as she opens the door.

I follow them inside and see the girl standing in the corner quickly scribbling on a note pad as her father set up the arrangements. I thought I saw some green mist like substance floating around the girl but it quickly went away when she put the notepad into her pocket and turned to join her father. I sit in one of the chairs behind the two of them and wait for my turn to go to the man at the desk.

"I have a room reserved." I say as I spread a little Mist over the man.

"... Ah yes... Here are your keys sir... Have a nice night..." He says in a dreamy voice as he hands me a key to a room.

The girl with the notepad turned and looked at me as I talked to the man and gave a questioning look before following her father outside. I take the key and leave as I see the girl and her father entering a room near the end of the motel. I check my key and see that it's only two doors down from hers, so I head off to enter the room I never booked. The room had a large bed and a fairly big tv, as well as a snack fridge that I raided before taking a shower. I wash off the drying blood and sweat from the past few days of adventuring. I attempt to wash my clothes in the sink so I don't have to leave and draw attention to myself by using a public washing machine near the office. I use a current of hot air I created to dry my clothes before I put them back on to watch some tv. I just finish my first episode of Cops when I hear a loud splash from out behind my room. I turn the tv and lights off before heading to the back sliding door to look outside. I see a pool with the water rippling but no one around, so I summon my sword and walk outside. As I get to the pool side, the red headed girl emerges from the water at my feet and gives a quick yelp as she sees my sword.

"Oh, it's just you." I say as I release my sword to make it disappear.

"Are you... Good or bad?" She asks when she sees the sword vanish.

"Uh... Good I hope." I reply as I turn to leave.

"No no! Stay here, I want to talk." She tells me.

"About what?" I ask.

"You. I've seen swords like that before as well as people manipulating mortals through the use of The Mist." She replies.

"Okay, so who are you first, and how do you know about The Mist?" I ask.

"My name is Rachel Dare, and I'm the Oracle of Delphi. Now who are you? I saw the sword and The Mist, so you have to be a demigod, and trust me, I have lots of experience with those." She explains.

"Okay then... My name is Allan O'Riley and I'm a son of Zeus." I tell her.

She hoists herself out of the pool and I get a full unimpeded view of her in a pretty skimpy bikini. She just grabs and wraps her waist in a towel before sitting down and chatting some more. I decide to create a small cloud which I just flop back on for the duration of our talk.

"So, what brings a mighty son of Zeus out here?" She asks.

"I'm going on an adventure!" I say in my best Bilbo Baggins voice which causes Rachel to laugh.

"No really, what are you doing?" She asks again.

"I've been trying to locate the Helm of Darkness for Hades and Poseidon's trident which were stolen. In the process of finding them, I hope to rescue my friends to help me fight those who took them." I explain.

"They've been stolen? Why didn't I end up making a prophecy about it?" She says to herself.

"No idea, all I know is that I'm going to have a hard time defeating these guys." I tell her.

"And who is it that took them?" She asks.

"Two half blood sons of Kronos." I tell her.

I have to catch Rachel before she hits the cement as she faints after a few moments of understanding what I said. I help her to her feet before I give her my cloud to lay on. I summon another cloud and sit while I wait for her to wake up. I have to splash her with some water from the pool to get her to wake up though.

"Yo, you ok?" I ask.

"Kronos was bad enough! Now he had kids? How are they even old enough to steal, they should only be almost two years old!" She says.

"He has control over time, hence why they're about eighteen years old." I tell her.

"Oh gods this is bad..." She says.

"Yeah, but there's no way in Tartarus they're getting the master bolt, that rests with me." I tell her as I conjure up the full physical form of the master bolt into my hands to prove it.

I sit and tell her my story up until when Percy got blown up in the water the first time. She knew Percy and she kept asking if he was alright.

"That's just the thing, Kronos' sons have captured him and Nico, that's where I'm headed tomorrow, to Nevada to confront the brother with the helm and free Percy. Then with Percy I'll attack the final brother and gain the trident and my friends so we can go home and give the gods their possessions back." I explain.

"So how'd you get all banged up earlier?" She asks.

"Monsters got a few good shots as I flew by, I had to take them out." I tell her.

I'm about to get up off my cloud and head inside when I see another large shape far out behind the motel in some trees beyond the fence. I quickly zip up my jacket and reveal my sword as I let the cloud dissipate under me when I fly upwards to get a better view.

"Nice armor... Um... Something wrong?" Rachel asks.

"Monster. Stay here, I'll get it." I say as I fly over the fence towards the trees.

I land as I approach the tree line and look into the woods. I can see a large set of eyes in the dark as well as hearing a faint whimper. I create a small glowing orb of light which I float upwards to illuminate my surroundings. The light shows a hellhound sitting in between the trees a short way into the woods. The monster looked almost scared at the sight of me because it backed up a few steps when I advanced with my sword drawn. I hear it whimper some more before I start to think that it doesn't want to attack me. Knowing full well that it could just be a trick, I lower my sword and call out to the monster.

"Um... Here doggy... Good hellhound... Please don't try and kill me..." I say as I beckon the monster forward.

As the hellhound stands back up, I see a collar sitting on its neck like someone domesticated it. When I got a good look at the monster, it looked pretty friendly. It let its tongue hang out and it's tail swish back and forth as it walked towards me. I tighten my grip on my sword just as the hellhound comes within striking distance. That's when I see a giant dog tag hanging from the collar which read "Mrs. O'Leary."

"Mrs... O'Leary? You have a name?" I ask.

The hellhound just gave a loud woof and gave me a quick wet lick right up my body. She sat down and started wagging her tail as I tried to clean myself off. I resorted to more hot air to dry myself before returning to the hellhound.

"Are you ok?" I hear Rachel call over the fence.

"Yeah I'm fine, but you have got to see this!" I call back.

I see Rachel's head poke over the fence and her eyes widen as a hellhound comes bounding towards her. She ducks back down just as Mrs. O'Leary jumps the fence and lands inside near the pool. I quickly fly myself back just as Mrs. O'Leary gives Rachel a slobbery lick like she did me. Mrs. O'Leary must have been a bit too happy because she accidentally caught Rachel's top when she licked.

"Ah! Mrs. O'Leary!" She yells as she covers herself and turns away.

I see Rachel's father come out the back door of their room and see the two of us standing there with a hellhound between the two of us. He must not be able to see through The Mist like Rachel can because he just looked amused.

"One of the other people staying here must have a dog. It's a cute puppy, just make sure you give him back when you're done playing." He tells the two of us. "Oh, hello there. I'm Mr. Dare, Rachel's father, and you are?"

"Allan O'Riley, pleased to meet you." I say as I shake his hand.

"How do you and Rachel know each other?" He asks.

"Uh... We both went to the same camp." I make up on the spot, which isn't entirely false.

"I see, well Rachel, it's getting late, you should probably come in soon." He says to Rachel before going back inside.

Rachel turns back to me after she finishes covering herself with her towel. I catch her eye and blush a little before turning back to Mrs. O'Leary.

"Pretend you didn't see that, got it?" She says sternly to me.

"See what?" I say with a wink. In the back of my mind I say 'never in a million years.'

Rachel just shakes her head and sits back into her chair.

"The worst thing about being the oracle is that I have to be a maiden, so no boys for me... Ever." She says.

"Like... Never ever?" I ask.

"Mhmm..."

"Damn..."

"Yup."

I sit down in a chair beside her as my new hellhound friend lays down in front of me. I just sit for a while admiring the night sky while Rachel sits there feeling sorry for herself.

"This sucks... Since I have to be single my whole life, I usually end up having crushes on every guy I see, demigods more so..." She says.

"You mean... Even-"

"You? Of course! You're strong and heroic and... You're brave... And loyal to your friends... And handsome... What's not to like?" She says as she looks at me.

Once again I start to blush as I look away and start petting Mrs. O'Leary's ears.

"You ever had a crush where you know you'll never end up getting with the person?" She asks.

"Well... There's... Um... Hestia... But I think she likes me too... But she's a goddess, so I don't know..." I admit.

"Hestia? Wow... Crushing on an immortal... That almost blows my problems right out of the water." She tells me.

"No way, I mean, there always someone out there... Oh gods I'm not making this any better..." I say.

I stand and walk to my door before I can say anything else that will make her upset. I hear her running over to me so I stop and turn around. Rachel just throws her arms around me to pull me into a hug. I'm pretty shocked because I only met this girl ten minutes before hand, so unless her feelings are as strong as she says, she shouldn't really be hugging me already.

"Rachel? Are you okay?" I ask.

"No! I've had to shoot down and distance myself from every guy who's shown interest in my for almost two years..." She cries into my shoulder.

"Maybe something can be worked out with the oracle, maybe the rules can be changed so you don't have to suffer like this." I say.

"No... Apollo won't allow it... He's the patron god for the oracle, so what he says goes." She cries some more.

"Trust me, I can make him see reason. Plus, as it stands, I have a bit of authority over him because I'm the prince of Olympus, plus I have the master bolt. If it comes down to it, I'll strike a deal with him to allow the rules to be changed just this once. Just for you." I tell her.

"You'd do that?" She says as she looks up at me.

"I'll certainly try. I hate seeing people sad." I say.

Rachel ends up doing something I don't really think she should have, but she did anyway. She pulls me in and gives me a nice long kiss. I start to return it before a bright light shines beside the two of us.

"Oh crap! I knew I shouldn't have done that! Please Apollo, don't be mad, I couldn't help myself! It's torture not being able to do anything like that!" She cries out.

I see a young looking man appear beside me in a muscle shirt decorated with flames and some swim trunks with flip flops. Even though it's dark out he still wore a pair of sunglasses as if he were at the beach. He didn't look like he was having fun though, he looked like he was about to explode.

"I only have two things to say. One," he says as he looks towards me. "Nice..." He says with an approving nod of his head. "And two, HOW DARE YOU?" He yells at Rachel who begins to cry again.

"YOU KNOW THE ORACLE HAS TO BE A MAIDEN YET YOU DARE GO AGAINST MY WORD? I SHOULD STRIP YOU OF YOUR TITLE THIS INSTANT!" Apollo yells again.

"Apollo! Cool yourself you hothead!" I say before I can stop myself.

"What did you say to me?" He says as he turns towards me. "You really want to go toe to toe with a god!" He yells out as he summons two long flaming swords into his hands.

I retaliate by summoning the master bolt which causes him to back up a few steps.

"This is not your business to be meddling in. This is between me and Rachel." He tells me.

"Can't you see that she only did this because she's miserable? Can't you work something out for her just this once? She wants to be able to love and be loved back." I tell Apollo.

"No. I will not show favoritism for this girl. She took on the spirit of the oracle and accepted the consequences that come of it." He tells me.

"Be that as it may, are you willing to strike a deal? We get what we want and you still keep the oracle." I tell him as I make the master bolt disappear.

"And what would your offer be?" Apollo asks as he too puts away his weapons.

"Rachel gets to live her life with all the love and happiness that she wants. You can make it so that the spirit of he oracle gets passed from mother to daughter forever more. I don't think anyone would mind if you make the oracle's first born always a female, that way the line is unbroken." I tell him.

"That's a pretty big request... And what am I to gain from this?" He asks.

"Anything within reason that I may provide." I answer.

"Allan, you sure about this?" Rachel asks.

"Dead sure." I reply.

"Anything eh? Well then, I think I'll choose... No, that's not harsh enough... Maybe... Nah, too harsh..." He mumbles to himself.

I sit and wait for Apollo to choose his terms while Rachel gets rather fidgety by my side. Apollo sits down and thinks for a while longer before jumping to his feet with a devious smile on his face.

"I want you to dive into the pit of Tartarus and retrieve for me a vial of each substance from the five rivers that flow through the pit. The Styx, the Acheron, the Lethe, the Phlegethon and the Cocytus. Kill any monsters that stand in your way and bring me back these vials, then I'll accept your offer." Apollo says as he hands me five small glass vials.

"Consider it done. I swear on the Styx that I will fill these vials for you. Now you swear to uphold your end of the bargain." I tell.

"I swear to abide by your-"

"On the Styx!" I say as I raise my voice.

"Fine, I swear on the Styx that I will uphold my end of the bargain, that is, if you return at all." He says before disappearing in another flash of light.

"Allan... You do know where Tartarus is, don't you? You do know WHAT Tartarus is, right?" Rachel asks me.

"Um... Somewhat. I know that it's the place where monsters go when they die, and it's as far from the underworld as the heavens are from earth, but I can get this done pretty quickly, see." I say before I dematerialize and reappear on the other side of the pool.

Rachel stares at me with an amazed look on her face as I transport myself back to her. She gives me another hug before turning to go back to her room. I stay outside and look around to make sure no more monsters are nearby, but with nothing happening I resort to just petting Mrs. O'Leary for a while. Every now and again she would lift her head and sniff before laying back down again.

"Can you smell monsters?" I ask the hellhound.

She seemed to know what I asked because she gave a woof and wagged her tail.

"Are there any nearby?" I ask.

Mrs. O'Leary gave a quick shake of her head as if she was shaking water off of her.

"Would you be able to keep a lookout for me tonight? I found some hotdogs in the snack fridge, you could have those if you like." I tell the hellhound who just woofs again and licks my face.

I see Rachel sneak out her back door and walk over to mine as I go inside to grab some food for the hellhound outside. She stops me at my door and gives me another kiss before handing me a piece of paper and walking back to her room. I can't help but check her out on her way back to her room, which she noticed when she got there. She blushed a little and gave me a wink before opening the door and going inside. I toss the packages of hotdogs to Mrs. O'Leary which she starts to tear open as soon as she got them. I open the piece of paper and notice Rachel's name on it as well as her phone number. I quickly take out my cellphone and input her number into it before stashing the paper inside my backpack. I return to my room only to see my tv turned on and a channel turned on that only shows a fire burning in a fireplace. I was about to turn off the tv before I hear someone clear their throat behind me.

"Hello Allan." I hear Hestia say coldly behind me.

I turn and see the goddess sitting on my bed with her arms crossed and an angry look on her face. I have to admit, she looked hot when she was angry, both literally and figuratively.

"Um... Hello Hestia... How are you tonight?" I ask uncertainly.

"Me? I'm fine, great even. I can see you're also having a good time." She says coldly.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Well, that girl! You're having lots of fun with her aren't you?" She says.

"Rachel? She's the oracle, which means she has to be a maiden. Don't worry, me and her don't have anything between us." I sort of lie.

"Don't lie to me! I saw the kiss..." She says as she drops her head.

I watch as a single tear rolls down her cheek before I walk over to her and put my arm around her. She just turns and throws her arms around me and continues to cry into my as I hold her.

"Okay, so she kissed me, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop seeing you Hestia. You know I have feelings for you and no girl will take those away." I tell her.

When she was crying, the fire in the screen turned to a low blue flame but after I told her how I feel it changed to a bright yellow. She slowly stops crying until she's just sitting there hugging me on my bed. I sit for a while longer until she looks up at me. Her eyes were red from crying, but other than that she seemed completely normal, or as normal as a goddess can get.

"I haven't fallen for a mortal like this in hundreds of years... That's why I don't have a cabin at camp half blood..." She tells me.

"Well, maybe you will someday. We'll build it after we build that roof over the fire pit." I tell her.

"You're so kind... And caring... And handsome..." She says before she puts her head on my chest.

I don't know how I manage to do it, but I eventually ended up laying down on my bed with Hestia beside me. She wasn't asleep, she told me she never does, but she did have her eyes closed as she snuggled up to me. I never would have thought that a goddess could act like a love smitten teenager, but the evidence was right before my eyes. I could feel warmth radiating off of her as we laid on the bed which was almost enough to put me to sleep. I had just closed my eyes to drift off as Hestia raised her head to look at me. I open my eyes and see yourself mere inches from Hestia in the light from the tv fire. Not wasting any time, I lean forwards and pull Hestia into a passionate kiss. I can see the fire on the tv roar into a white hot state for the duration of the time me and the goddess sat there in each other's embrace. We sat there for the next hour sharing each other's company until I got too tired to keep my eyes open. Hestia sees this and gives me one final kiss before she gets up and disappears as the tv turns off. I immediately fall asleep as soon as my head hits my pillow for the last time.

My dreams consisted of me standing at a crossroads with Hestia on one side and Rachel on the other. A multi faced being stood between them as both the girls beckoned me towards them.

"I am Janus, god of the crossroads. You've created an impasse for yourself hero, now you must choose. Both these women want you to love them but only one may share their life with you. Choose wisely." The god says.

"I... I choose... I..." I stutter as I stand stuck between the two girls.

"Bad things will come from the one you do not choose. Both will take you down different paths with obstacles from the other blocking your way." Janus tells me.

"Yes, but there is always a third path." I tell the god. "Who says that the path I came here by does not branch off and connect both of the paths before me?"

"You are intelligent hero... I will allow this." Janus says as my dream fades out and I wake up to see the tv on again and Hestia sitting at the foot of the bed.

"Hestia...? You're still here?" I say with a smile.

"Yes... And Apollo told me of your new found quest to the pit of Tartarus. The pit is dangerous, more so than any other place in existence." She says.

I sit up and make my way to the edge of the bed. I sit down beside Hestia and put my arm around her one again. I notice that throughout the night I ended up taking off my jacket, tee shirt and pants until I was left in only my boxers. I feel a little embarrassed but Hestia doesn't seem to care, so I just carry on like normal.

"In exchange for altering the rules befalling the oracle, he wants me to dive into Tartarus and retrieve a sample from each of the five rivers. I have no idea where they are or what they do, so I'm not too worried." I tell her.

"Tell me you didn't swear on the Styx to do it... Theoretically speaking, you'll have to carry your word with you in a tiny glass bottle." She says as she holds up one of the vials.

"I did Hestia, I made a promise to Rachel and I intend to keep it." I tell her.

"Oh you idiot..." She says before she buries her head into my chest again.

I lay back down with the goddess for a little while before getting up and getting dressed. Hestia sits up after a while and hands me what looks like a small yet long sticker.

"Peel this off and stick all five vials to it and they will be magically transported to Hermes' sorting facility, then to Apollo. Be careful when you're down there. A soul that dies in Tartarus stays in Tartarus, there's no returning to the underworld for you if you perish in the pit." She tells me.

I take the sticker and stash it in my backpack beside the paper which had Rachel's phone number on it. Tartarus seems more deadly than I previously thought. With my ability to travel as a bolt of lightning, getting around Tartarus and then getting back to the surface should be easier than normal.

"Is there anything I should know about Tartarus that I don't already?" I ask.

"Well, try not to touch any of the rivers. The Phlegethon is okay, but definitely not the Lethe. Be swift and get out if you even can. Just... Don't die on me." Hestia tells me as she hugs me again.

"I have no intentions of dying Hestia, I have too much riding on me to succeed. I need to defeat Kronos' sons and get the symbols of power for the gods." I tell her.

"Allan, by the gods, be careful... I want you to know that I-"

"Hestia... I love you too." I tell her.

Hestia's fire roared a blinding white hot as she pulled me in for the best kiss I've ever experienced. I held her until I needed to stop so I could breath properly. I can see her blushing as bright as a bed of hot coals and her eyes were bright and loving. I knew now that my future with this goddess was certain, no matter what happens I'll be with her in the end. I don't know how I'll have Rachel work her way into my life like I told Janus during my dream, but I'll be sure to have her in there somehow.

"I should be off. I need to get to Nico and Percy, then I'm off to Tartarus... Wish me luck." I say as I adjust my backpack's strap.

"Good luck Allan, try not to die." Hestia tells me.

She walks me to the door and sees me out before she disappears with the fire on the tv. The sun has risen, but I'd say it was only seven or eight in the morning. I can see a man working under Rachel's car with Rachel checking the engine. I levitate myself an inch from the ground and float over behind her to give her a small scare. I give her a poke in the arm with a small shock which causes her to jump about a foot in the air.

"Hey! Ow, what the hell? Oh, it's just you." Rachel says as she gives me another hug.

"Yeah, I'm on my way out so I thought I'd say goodbye before I pitch myself into the depths of Tartarus. It'll be fun, don't worry. I'll try not to, you know..." I say as I drag my thumb across my neck.

"Oh, yeah! Oh, and if you succeed, there's something I think we should do when you get back." She says in a very suggestive tone.

Rachel gives me a wink and takes a stance that looks as if she were trying to flaunt herself to me. My teenage tendencies get the better of me and I do start to check her out as she talks, but I quickly remember Hestia.

"You know, I spoke with Hestia last night and this morning. She admitted to having the biggest crush ever on me... And I told her that I had feelings for her... And we kissed... So what I'm trying to say is that, when my quest is over, I'll be with her..." I explain.

I can see Rachel's mood turn from ecstatic to upset in a matter of seconds. I can see tears starting to form in her eyes but she wipes them away before they can fully form. She composes herself and readdresses me with a more professional tone.

"I see. Well, I wish the best for you two... I just wish there was a way I could repay you for all that you're doing for me..." She mumbles a bit at the end.

I really hate seeing girls upset, and I hate it even more that I'm the one making her upset. My better nature comes through as I pull her in for a hug.

"Maybe, MAYBE! I could convince Hestia to let me be with you before I make our relationship an official thing. That way we both get what we want. That is, if I save Nico, Percy and Olympus as well as getting samples from those damn rivers for Apollo, but other than that, I'm good for it." I tell her.

"That would mean a lot to me. Trust me, I'll try and make it worth your while." She whispers in my ear.

"Okay miss Dare, it's all fixed up. I'll go tell Mr. Dare so you two can be off." The mechanic says as he stands up.

Me and Rachel watch the man enter the main office and notify Rachel's father. Mr. Dare comes out with a suitcase in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. Rachel gives me another hug and a wink as she follows her dad to the car. I wave as I see the car take off down the road while I'm left standing in the parking lot. I decide to ask for a bit of mortal assistance before leaving myself.

"Excuse me sir, which way is Las Vegas?"


	5. Chapter 5

I thank the mechanic and walk around the motel to tell Mrs. O'Leary that she can go. She gives me a lick and a woof before jumping the fence and running to the shadows of the trees. I go back out to the front and cross the road to an open field. I watch as the mechanic takes off down the road the opposite way Rachel and her father went. I fly into the sky again and go as high as the clouds before following the directions the mechanic gave me. I fly as a bolt of lightning again and watch as the scenery below me races past. My aviator goggles I got in New York really helped to keep the wind out of my eyes as I start seeing sand and dessert below me as I fly south. I pull out of my lightning mode and begin my cruising speed as I see Las Vegas in the distance. I close my eyes and visualize where the two brothers are and see that they are both at a nearby lake. I go jet fighter mode as I race towards the lake to confront the brothers.

With the lake in front of me, I zip up my jacket to reveal my armor. I get the power of the master bolt ready in my hands before I fly to the ground, my hands glowing from energy. I land on the northern shoreline and start scanning my surroundings for the sons of Kronos.

"Hello son of Zeus, come for a dip?" I hear beside me.

I zap myself ten feet away and turn to see Elian standing leaning on the trident with a very bored look on his royal face. I watch as he acts casual as ever when he makes some water from the lake exit and form itself into a lawn chair. Elian leans the trident up against the side of the chair as he sits and relaxes.

"Would you like to chat or maybe go for a swim? We could see just how long a son of Zeus can hold his breath." He says with an evil smile.

"Give me the trident and I won't have to kill you... Today that is." I instruct him.

"Oh no, I won't be dying today. You on the other hand, maybe. It all depends on how strong you are." He says.

I raise my right arms and point my handful of energy towards Elian to show him I'm not in a joking mood. I watch as his face changes from laughing to an angry frown in an instant. Elian tightens his hand on the trident beside him before speaking again.

"Try and hit me hero, you'll miss, I guarantee it." He tells me.

Taking his offer, I dematerialize and fly towards him. I watch in amazement as (at the speed I'm going) he stands up and leisurely waltzes away from his chair with his trident in his hand. My attack went straight through the water chair and dissolves it. I stop and spin around to see Elian once again resting bored against the trident.

"You've got to be faster hero. You'll never catch me unless you get faster." He tells me.

I release a massive bolt of electricity towards him and watch as it slows down in the air so he can more than easily side step and be completely missed. The attack flies off and explodes on a sand dune on the far side of the lake which sends sand into the sky. Elian waltz over to the lake and walks right across the surface until he's more than 20 feet in. I follow him to the shore line and make sure he doesn't attack me.

"Come on Allan, water versus air, let's see who wins." Elian says.

"Yes, let's!" I say as I step a single foot in the water.

I watch as my plan works. Elian manipulated the water so I couldn't take my foot out, but what he didn't realize is that as soon as he did that I started sending as much energy from my body into the water as I could muster. I watch as the current hits Elian and freezes him in place from electric shock.

"Let's see how long it takes to cook a fish. Care to join me?" I mock as I send an even larger current.

I summon the master bolt in my hand and take careful aim at the man standing immobilized in front of me. I could have swore you saw his eyes widen just a little further at the sight of me wielding the master bolt. My first throw of the bolt collides with the trident in Elian's hand. I use the winds to keep him on top of the water so he didn't fall in. The force from the impact forces him to release the trident which then gets tossed to the far shore of the lake. When the bolt reappeared in my hand I take aim once more. I notice that the water around my foot no longer held me down since Elian no longer had the trident. I call in storm clouds and more lightning to power me up until I feel as I did when Zeus bonded me with the master bolt. When I release the bolt, Elian closes his eyes and uses the last of his remaining strength to slow down the bolt so that he may be spared. I watch as the bolt creeps towards him as a large dark shape flies over the lake and grabs Elian. I notice the shape as a small black dragon with Angus riding on its back. He scoops up Elian and places him on the dragon's back and takes off towards the trident. I see what happened and maneuver the bolt mid air until it's also going towards the trident. Elian must have passed out because it returned to its normal speed. It collided with the trident yet again which sent it back my way. Angus tries to grab it mid air but I use the air currents to push the dragon away. I fly into the air and catch the trident before having the master bolt reappear in my hand. I throw it again as hard as I can towards the brothers. I watch a magnificent explosion as the bolt collides with Angus' chest which sends him and Elian backwards far into the dessert. The dragon exploded into a fireball of yellow dust and flames as the two brothers disappeared into the distance.

"Air versus water? Nah. Lightning versus water? Ah yeah!" I say to myself.

I feel the power from two of the three symbols of power resting in my possession. I feel as if I could control the world with these two items. The water and the air... Potentially limitless power...

"No! I swore on the Styx that I wouldn't let the power get to my head. I need to give this to Percy so he can help me." I say as I close my eyes.

I can see a large dot split down the center above the lake you're over. The dot was half blue and half green, since I had both the trident and the bolt. I know I'm facing south and that Vegas is to my right. I cannot see Elian or Angus in the desert in front of me, so I check around the continent just to be sure. I can see a red dot appear many miles behind me then disappear only to reappear in the arctic. I can see a very small black dot staying behind at the place where Angus first stopped behind me in the desert. I open my eyes and take off towards the north to find where they've been hiding. I change into pure energy again until I see a very strange sight below me.

"Oh my gods... These guys were hiding in Area 51... Wow... Nice hiding place." I say as I fly downwards.

Even though I'm pure energy traveling at the speed of light, I can still slow myself down until I'm moving at a normal speed while still being invisible as energy. I fly around the base, something no one else has ever been able to do. I can see the black dot closer to my left, so I head that way until I come across a large warehouse. I enter through a crack in the window (I can do that when I have no physical form) and see something I never thought I'd see in Area 51.

"A really big hole in the ground... Not what I expected." I say as I land.

"Not what I expected either." I hear Elian say beside me.

"You really want to continue to fight when you're so weak? You believed yourself to be stronger, yet I still won. If you choose to fight, you will die." I tell Elian.

"Why don't you hand over the trident and make it a fair fight?" He replies.

"Why don't you and your brother hand over my friends?" I say.

"Oh we would, but we can't. You see, we don't have them anymore." He answers me.

I summon the bolt in my right hand as I hold the trident in my left. I advance on Elian who just collapses to his knees. With him at my mercy, I feel very powerful. Elian tried to grab for the trident to which I retaliate by spinning and smacking him across the face with the master bolt. Elian gets thrown across the room by the force of the impact and stops when he collides with a crate.

"WHERE ARE THEY?" I yell as I approach him again.

"They're-" he coughs "falling to their deaths... They'll be dead within seconds." He says as he coughs up a little blood.

I now know what they did. Elian stayed here and kept me occupied as Angus left for Elian's base in the north. The two had taken Percy and Nico and tossed them into the pit of Tartarus. I give Elian a swift roundhouse kick across the face which knocks him out completely. I close my eyes and feel the air currents in the pit before me. I can feel that there are hundreds of holes like this all over the globe, but only two of them had anything within them. I knew the two things were Percy and Nico falling into Tartarus as I stood there. By controlling the winds at the bottom of the holes, I slowed down their falls and helped them land safely, or as safely as they can be in Tartarus. I dematerialize and launch myself at full tilt downwards into the pit. I fly along as fast as I possibly can until I see the hole below me start to glow a bright orange. I fly as fast as I can until I feel the air around me begin to create nuclear fusion. I quickly stop myself before I can blow up the planet from inside. The rock on the walls of the hole were only slightly liquefied, so I'm safe.

I can now see into the pit below me. The space widened as if I were emerging into an underground dome. I can see a lake of fire below me with a river leading off from one side. From my high vantage point, I can see a plethora of monsters walking, running, swimming and flying all over the vast pit of Tartarus. I see a small figure waving at me from the mouth of the river of fire. I fly towards it as a monster tries to attack me from the side. I see the monster as something I can only call a harpy. It had the face of a woman, except it had a beak. It's body was that of a cross between human and bird with wings and feathers and clawed feet, but none of that mattered once I ran it through the neck with Poseidon's trident. I watch as the monster exploded into dust which was then carried off towards the distance. I quickly fly to the figure below me which reveals itself as Percy.

"By the gods, how did you survive those guys?" He asks as I land.

Percy sees the trident in my hand and takes on a shocked appearance.

"You got the trident? Does that mean those two guys are dead?" He asks.

"Sadly not. I was able to defeat one of them and take back the trident, but the other one grabbed him and escaped. They're sons of Kronos." I tell Percy.

"Kronos? Gods damn it... I'm not even going to ask how and when it happened, all I need is the trident so we can get back and kick their asses into oblivion." He says.

I hold out the trident which Percy takes. I have to admit, it looked so much better with him than it did with Elian. It looked more... Natural. I could feel the power from it radiating off when it was within his possession.

"Now, let's go kick ass." He says.

"What about Nico?" I ask.

"What about him?" He replies.

"He got captured too." I tell him.

"Ah crap... Where is he?" He asks.

"No freaking clue, but he's somewhere down here with us. The brother who stole the helm tossed him down here while the one who had the trident dropped you. He must have used his power over time to speed up your fall so that it didn't take forever. Come to think of it, the brother with the helm should have been dead, I hit him dead center with the master bolt." I tell him.

"Maybe, since they're twins, Kronos split their powers up. One brother got the titan's strength and the other got the power over time." Percy tells me.

"Well, Elian can manipulate time-"

"Elian?" Percy asks.

"Oh I forgot. Their names are Elian and Angus." I tell him.

"So this Elian guy controlled the time and Angus took the force of the bolt? That proves my theory." He says.

"I guess so." I reply.

"Yup, now let's go find Nico, we don't need him flipping out because he now has to wander around Tartarus for a second time on his own." Percy says.

"Before we do that, what is this big lake full of lava doing here? Is it special?" I ask.

"Oh this? It's the Phlegethon, the river of fire. Go ahead and jump right in, it won't hurt you, in fact it will actually heal you. I know, it didn't make much sense when Annabeth told me either." He tell me.

I unzip my jacket and take out one of the vials from the inside pocket. Percy watches as I fill the vial full of liquid fire before I return it to my inside pocket. He gives me a questioning look before asking what I'm doing.

"And you're taking samples of magic rivers because...?" He asks.

"I made a pact with Apollo, so I'm collecting samples from every river so he'll help out the oracle of Delphi." I explain.

"Rachel? How do you know Rachel?" Percy asks as we start walking in no particular direction.

"We met last night at a motel. She saw me use The Mist to get a room for free and then she saw my sword. She explained who she was and I explained what happened so far. Oh, and we found this hellhound named-"

"Mrs. O'Leary? Yeah, she's a good hellhound, very helpful." Percy says.

"Anyway, she said that she gets crushes on guys very easily when she's not allowed to be with anyone, so she even got a crush on me. She kissed me and Apollo appeared and raged his godly heart out before we struck a deal, I get some of the rivers in these vials and he alters the rules of the oracle so Rachel can finally be with someone. So now I'm here to get you and Nico as well as get samples from the other four rivers." I explain.

"She kissed you? She kissed me once, she's pretty good. Anyway, you thinking of getting with her after this is all done?" Percy asks.

"I don't know if I'll be able to. I also found out that Hestia has quite a thing for me, and I have the biggest crush on that goddess as well. I almost slept with her last night." I tell him.

"Hestia? I never would have guessed." He admits as we keep walking.

I see monsters flying above as we follow the river. I tell Percy everything that happened to me after him and Nico were caught up until when I jumped into the pit. Percy seemed rather impressed that someone so new to their powers could take on someone with Titan level powers as well as the trident and win. I had to stop and kill a few monsters that tried to jump the two of us, but other than that we kept walking and talking as if we were still at camp.

"I have an idea on how to find Nico." Percy says.

"Have me fly around super duper quick and spot him?" I ask.

"Nah, save your energy. Maybe we can send up a flair of sorts using the trident or the bolt." He replies.

"Maybe... But that'll attract the monsters to us." I tell him.

"Well yeah, but all it takes is one quick blast from either weapon and they're gone away to reform." He tells me.

I decide to take the chance and send up a bolt of lightning into the dark roof of Tartarus above me. I watch as the bolt forks off and spreads across the roof in all directs while still maintaining a connection to the master bolt in my hand. I can see waves upon waves of monster heading my way and even some smarter monsters running away.

"Wanna see something I just thought up?" I ask Percy as the monsters advance on its from all sides.

"Uh, is it going to help?" He asks as he raises the trident.

I give an devilish smile and bring the master bolt down into the ground beneath my feet. I push Percy into the air as the current races through the ground vaporizing all monsters that it touches. He then raises the trident and points at the monsters that are flying to send an energy blast into all the monsters until I'm completely alone except for Percy.

"Damn." He says as I drop him back to the ground. "I think we just killed every monster in the immediate area..."

I quickly fly into the air and see only one being left in the wide open expanses of Tartarus. I lift Percy into the air and head off towards the figure. I can see whoever it is passed out only a few feet from one of the rivers of Tartarus, this one looking like normal water. Percy tells me it's the Lethe, the river that wipes a person's memory. Percy and me land beside the figure that I see is Nico, except he's pretty banged up. It looks like Elian was torturing Nico while he was at his base in the arctic. Percy tries to wake Nico as I take out another vial. I remember what Hestia said and make sure not to touch the river. I float one of the vials into the river until it's full before securing the cap on nice and tight. I dry off the exterior using a current of hot air until I'm sure it's safe to touch. I stash the second vial into the pocket of my jacket just as Nico is waking up. I hand him a few pieces of ambrosia and my bottle full of nectar from my backpack which perks him right up.

"Why are we in Tartarus again?" He asks as soon as he's nice and healed.

"Those two guys, sons of Kronos, tossed us in here after Allan here whooped the brother with the trident straight to Hades and back." Percy tells Nico.

"How'd you do that? He's able to control time." Nico says.

"He walked into the middle of Lake Mead, so I stepped in and fried his ass. The second brother swooped by and took him away after I shot the trident out of his hand. I blasted them both away and followed them to Area 51 where I knocked out the one who had the trident and saved you two from becoming a grease spot on the ground of Tartarus." I tell Nico.

I help Nico up and stand looking out over the wide expanse of the pit. I can see another river in the distance, so I dematerialize with Percy and Nico to go and collect from it as well. I feel like I'm completely willing to die as soon as I get close to the river. Percy acts the same way whereas Nico just acted like... Nico.

"Why'd you bring us here?" Nico asks.

"I wanted to die painfully..." I tell him as I sit down with my hands clasped over my head.

"No really, why'd you bring us to the Acheron?" He asks again.

"To fill this..." I say as I hold out an empty vial.

Nico takes the vial and dunks it into the river and caps it before handing it back to me. He shoves and nudges me and Percy until we're well away from the river. I thank Nico and tell him that I don't know what came over me. Nico informs me that the Acheron is the river of pain, so that's why I was wanting to die.

"Do you know where the other two rivers are? The Styx and the Cocytus?" I ask.

"The Styx is practically everywhere, I think it even has a waterfall. Shouldn't be hard to find that, but the Cocytus on the other hand will be harder. You'll hear a pained and agonizing wailing as you get close to it. It's the river where everyone's suffering feelings go when their spirit is sent to the underworld." He tells me.

Nico leads us for a little over a half hour until we come across a very small river, maybe only ten or so feet across. I hear the sounds of millions or billions of people crying and yelling in despair as if their world was coming crashing down around them. Once again my better nature took over to the extent that I wanted to help these poor souls, but then I remembered that this river is only a concentrated source of emotion, not actual people, so I quickly plunge the fourth vial into the river to fill it and put it into my pocket.

"Almost done, just one more, the Styx, then we can leave." I tell Percy and Nico.

I fly into the air and survey my surroundings. I stop dead as I see a completely soul tearing, dreadful, horrifying sight in the distance. What I see looks like all the rivers connecting and spewing into a giant whirlpool from all sides. The rivers merged into a black liquid that could only be rivaled by the Helm of Darkness or maybe a black hole in space. I couldn't say why, but the gigantic whirlpool scared me more than anything ever could. I felt like I was looking into a power stronger than everything I could think of all together. No, it looked like something that could swallow all that power and still not be fazed. I force myself to land and take off sprinting in the opposite direction. Percy and Nico follow me until I finally stop in front of a large river full of black water, the Styx.

"Why in Hades did you just take off?" Percy asks as he starts panting to regain his breath.

I just sit myself down and start to shake uncontrollably as fear tears my mind apart. I couldn't describe the feeling of having everything inside me feel like it's powerless against the force of the very ground beneath my feet. Nico forces me to take a small gulp of nectar which seems to calm me down enough for me to somewhat tell them what I saw. I still don't really feel like I could talk right, so I summon my sword and draw a small picture into the sand. I draw the five rivers flowing in from even increments around the rim of the whirlpool. I draw the rivers swirling into the center until i drop my sword and collapse to my hands and feet.

"Oh... My... Gods... Percy, I think he looked into the face of Tartarus..." Nico tells Percy.

"Oh crap... I saw him as a physical being when I was here and his face looked like a black whirlpool of darkness. It was scary, but not anything someone couldn't handle... The real thing may be horrifying... Allan, do you think you'll be alright?" Percy asks.

I manage a very slow nod as Nico helps me to my feet. Nico takes the last vial from my pocket to fill it. I float the vial out of his hand and into the river to collect the blackness of the Styx and cap it before drying it off. I shakily take off my bag and take out the sticker Hestia gave me so I can send these off to Hermes, then to Apollo. I line all the vials up and peel off the sticker. As soon as the last vial was stuck to the sticker, all five of them disappear into thin air. I feel a bit better that I completed a task for Apollo, but also for Rachel and all future oracles that will come in her bloodline. I rise to my feet and look at Nico and Percy standing beside me.

"Ready to get out of here?" I ask them.

"I've never been more ready to leave someplace in my life." Percy tells me.

I put my backpack back on and grab ahold of Nico and Percy before dematerializing and flying toward the closest hole in the roof of Tartarus. I fly for only a few minutes until we emerge in a small cave. I make a small ball of light to float around me so I can see the rest of the cave. I can see a busted rope and some bolts attached to the roof of the cave and assume that someone tried to climb across but fell in. Unlucky guys. I land on the side where the rope is coming from and close my eyes. I can see North America and Angus' red dot in the north, but I don't see myself or Percy's dot anywhere. I alter my perspective until I'm looking at the entire world. I can see yourself in Egypt, not far from the Nile River. I walk with Nico and Percy until we reach the mouth of the cave which opens up to a small crypt. It looks like it was recently excavated, something that doesn't happen very often anymore. I almost get blinded when I look at the lights but quickly turn them off with a sort of EMP that I generate. I follow the hallways and passages until we emerge in the darkness. It must be night time here, so I extinguish my ball of light but quickly stop as a blade is rested against my throat. I turn and see two people, a boy and a girl standing on either side of me. I raise my hands to show that I'm not planning on attacking to which the boy lowers the scarf around his face.

"Who are you and why have you come from this tomb?" He asks.

"Um... Well, we got lost... Underground... For a little while and we came up in the cave down there. We don't mean you any harm, so please lower that sharp looking sword." I tell him.

"And if you mean no harm, why are they carrying weapons?" The girl says as she motions towards Percy and Nico.

"You can see the trident? Are you able to see through The Mist?" I ask.

"You know of the gods too?" The boy says as he lowers his sword.

"Of course, we're demigods." I tell them.

"And where are you from?" The girl asks.

"America." I reply.

"So you're...?" The boy says.

"Greek." Percy says.

"Oh... Well, unfortunately you can not leave now. You've seen the tomb, so now you must die." The boy says as he hoists his sword.

I grab Percy and Nico so I can dematerialize again and escape. I fly into the sky and then turn west so I can speed towards the ocean and back to New York. I fly for a few moments at the speed of light until I stop above Olympus. I descend on the throne room and reappear before pushing open the doors. I can see all the gods assembled again in deep conversation. They all stop talking as we approach Zeus' throne.

"We're back, and we have the trident." I say to Zeus as Percy lifts it up.

"And as always, I'm left until last." Hades says as he sits back in his throne.

I see Apollo and give him a nod which he returns. I watch as Poseidon takes the trident from Percy and step back with Nico. After Percy tells him that he's ready, Poseidon lights up his hands the same way Zeus did so he can merge Percy's soul with that of the trident. I watch as Percy's arms shoot out as he yells in pain before exploding into energy as I did. I can smell the ocean as a breeze spins around until a whole bunch of water vapor solidifies back into Percy. He takes a few steps when he regains his balance, but other than looking a little jittery, he seemed fine.

"How do you feel son?" Poseidon asks.

"Great... Is this how you feel all the time... I can feel my head spinning and crashing around like a wave on rocks... I really want to kill something... And now I want to catch a fish... Now I want to go surfing... My thoughts and emotions are all over the place." He says as he clenches his head in his hands.

"You'll get used to it sooner or later, but for now you'll need to obtain that Helm of Darkness. The sons of Kronos have been busy while you were in Tartarus. They've amassed an army of only the strongest monsters they could get their hands on." Poseidon tells the three of us.

"How long were we gone for?" Nico asks.

"About a week, at least that's what Hestia told us." Zeus says.

"Time is faster in Tartarus, a minute could be a day, a few hours could be a week." Athena says.

"Do you think you're ready to go and take on the sons of Kronos to obtain the helm?" Zeus asks.

"Not two hours ago did I stare into the face of Tartarus itself." I say which causes the gods to look a little shocked. "I think I can take on these two."

"Good, now go get my helm!" Hades tells us.

I walk out of the hall and stand in front of the throne room but stop when Apollo appears in front of me. I tell Nico and Percy to carry on as I stop to talk with the god.

"I just wanted to congratulate you on your task. I didn't think you'd be able to do it... But staring into the face of Tartarus? That's extreme." He tells me.

"I guess so. Now, your end of the bargain." I tell him.

I watch as Apollo waves his arm and makes Rachel appear beside him. I see Rachel painting on a canvas a painting that looked exactly like me flying downwards about to bring my fist down on one of the sons of Kronos. It was detailed too, my armor was right, the sky looked real, damn, even the brother looked exactly like he did in real life, which is strange because I don't think Rachel ever saw him. She momentarily stops to get some different paint but stops when she noticed where she is. Rachel looks up in awe before quickly taking a pen out of her pocket and making a panoramic sketch in her notebook of all of Olympus.

"Ahem?" Apollo clears his throat to get her attention.

"Oh yeah, hi guys." She says with a small wave.

"Allan has successfully completed his task and brought me five vials from the five rivers in Tartarus. This means that I hereby change the laws binding the spirit of the oracle of Delphi. From now on, the spirit of the oracle will be passed from mother to daughter which will always be the first born child of that current oracle. You will be allowed to live your life as freely as you want from now on." Apollo tells Rachel.

I watch as Rachel tears up before jumping up and hugging Apollo before turning to me. She throws her arms around me and pulls me into the tightest hug I've ever received.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She says as she attempts to crush me with a hug.

"Don't forget what I told you we'd do." She whispers in my ear.

I feel myself go as red as Rachel's hair when she lets me go and walks back to her canvas. She gives me a wink just as Apollo sends her back to wherever she was. Apollo disappears as well and leaves me standing on the front steps of the palace of the gods with my friends walking towards the elevator. I catch up and head off with them before flying them both back to camp half-blood for a good night's rest.

I arrive at camp within moments due to light traveling. I land near the fire pit and quickly gain the attention of Chiron who was standing on the porch of the big house with armor on his human half and his bow and quiver slung over his back. I wait for him to gallop over with Annabeth running behind him until they're both standing before me.

"Allan, what news of your quest?" Chiron asks.

"We know the names of the sons of Kronos. Elian, the one who stole the trident, and Angus, the one with the helm. I confronted Elian and obtained the trident from him before his brother came and rescued him. I tracked them down to Area 51 where Elian was using his powers to quicken Percy and Nico's falls into the pit of Tartarus." I tell him.

"You guys went back to Tartarus?" Annabeth asks in shock.

"Yeah, and if Allan didn't save us, we'd probably be screwed." Nico tells them.

"Allan even ended up looking straight at-" Percy says before covering his mouth.

My eyes widen as I start to shake violently once again. Nico catches me before I collapse and makes sure I stay upright. Annabeth and Chiron give me worried looks as Nico leads me to a bench near the fire pit. I sit for a few moments and try to calm my shaking down again before telling then what happened.

"... While we were down there... I also completed a task for Apollo... I flew into the air and... And..." I stop to take a few breaths. "I saw... The face of Tartarus..." I tell them.

"Annabeth, you know when we saw Tartarus appear as a physical being? Do you remember what his face looked like?" Percy asks Annabeth who looked mildly confused, whereas Chiron looked concerned.

"He didn't have one, it was just a black vortex." She says uncertainly.

"Well, Allan here found out why that is. All five rivers end up flowing to the same place, the face of Tartarus. They all pour over into one whirlpool of complete darkness. Allan's lucky he didn't tear his own head off from fright." Percy tells her.

"Oh my..." Annabeth says as she sits and puts her arm around me.

I acknowledge her attempt at comforting me as my shaking calms down once again. I give her a weak smile and attempt to pull myself together. I watch as the fire pit springs forth with new flames and Hestia rises from the fire. I don't want her to see me as I am, so I quickly steel my nerves and stand up.

"Are you alright Allan?" She asks as she approaches me.

"I'm fine." I lie. "We were just discussing our trip into Tartarus."

"Was it as awful as people claim?" She asks.

"Worse. There's one thing there that would even drive a god insane... And I looked straight at it..." I tell her.

Hestia gasped and covered her mouth before talking again.

"What was it?" She asks.

"The... The face of Tartarus." I tell her.

I notice I didn't shake nearly as bad that time as I did moments before. It's as if I'm growing accustomed to having the image reappear in my head every time I say it.

"I don't want to think about that... So tell me, what else happened after you left the motel?" She asks.

"You guys were at a motel together?" Annabeth asks.

"Yes Annabeth, I spent the night with him, keeping watch if any monsters showed up." She tells Annabeth.

Annabeth gives me a questioning look until Percy whispers into her ear.

"Oh... You two have a thing together, don't you?" She asks in a teasing voice.

To answer her, I walk over to Hestia and pull her in for a kiss which she returns. When I finish, I look back at everyone and see them all wearing shocked expressions. Me and Hestia just start to laugh together at how funny they all look.

"Damn... You weren't kidding..." Nico says.

"Well.. Uh... In any case, you three should get some rest, I assume you'll be leaving again in the morning to track down the helm?" Chiron asks.

"I guess so." Nico says.

"I dunno, all I want now is sleep." I admit.

I watch as Chiron heads back to the big house, Percy and Annabeth walk over to the lake before they both jump in and don't come back up, and Nico as he disappears in the dark presumably to go to his cabin leaving me and Hestia alone together.

"You should head off to bed, you'll need the rest." Hestia tells me.

"I know, but I was wondering if you'd like to join me." I tell her.

Hestia blushes with her fire a little but stays where she is.

"The motel was different... There weren't so many demigods around... And I'm a little shy too..." She says.

"You think they'll make fun of you for being with me? I say let them try, I'll strike them down where they stand if they make a single rude remark about you." I tell her.

Hestia hugs me tightly and thanks me for my kindness.

"Thank you, but I still don't know if I'm even allowed to be in any of these cabins. They're for half bloods only." She tells me.

"That may be, but I'll use my authority to allow you access." I tell her.

"Well... I guess so. I did like spending that night with you." She admits as she follows me to my cabin hand in hand.

Hestia looked up in awe when she entered my cabin. She noted the bunks that were taken by Jason and Thalia as well as the high ceiling and the hammocks as well as the assortment of weapons decorating the walls. She kept looking around at all the things to see as I start to change into my PJ's. Hestia caught sight of me again in nothing but my boxers and blushed again before turning away. She simply waved her hands over her body and her clothing changed from jeans and a blouse to grey and black pajamas decorated with little flames around the hems which made them look like they were catching on fire. I have to admit, she didn't look like a goddess, she looked like a regular teenage girl who just so happened to be sharing my bed that night.

"I'm going to head over to the bathroom real quick, feel free to choose a bunk, I can sleep anywhere so it doesn't bother me which you choose." I tell her.

I fly yourself over to the bathrooms that are located behind the cabins. There were two, one on one side of the fire pit and the other on the other side behind the cabins. I do my business and wash my hands before flying back to my cabin and shutting the door.

"I thought I'd take a more comfortable choice of attire. Do you like it?" Hestia asks while sitting on one of the bunks.

I take a look and see that she's not wearing her PJ's anymore, instead she's wearing almost nothing at all, just charcoal black bra and panties. I stop dead in my tracks to admire the goddess before stripping myself down also.

"I don't really like it." I tell her.

"You don't?" She asked as her smile dropped.

"Nah, I LOVE IT!" I say excitedly.

Hestia's smile returned bigger than ever as I lay down on the far side of the bed. She laid down beside me to which I put my arms around her while she rested her head on my chest. I knew that since she's a goddess she doesn't sleep, but she could sure act like it. I laid there for a little under ten minutes before I drifted off to sleep.

I didn't dream anything to do with Elian or Angus that night, instead I dreamt of standing in a white stone house on mount Olympus. I was gazing out of a bedroom window to the street below. I could see minor gods and goddesses walking around as well as some satyrs tending to the trees, bushes and flowers that decorated parks and the fronts of houses and buildings. I could see a slight reflection of my face in the window and I could see myself about ten or fifteen years older. I had a nice looking goatee and shorter and more well kept hair. My features were a bit more defined but it was undoubtably me. I can see two women walking towards my house to which I leave and walk to the door to meet them. As I'm coming down the staircase I see the two women enter the house. The first was undoubtably Hestia, only she looked a bit older, like me. Maybe anywhere between twenty five and thirty. The second was someone I've never seen before. She looked like a young teenager, maybe fourteen or fifteen. She had long jet black hair but she had brown eyes, like Hestia. She wore a black leather jacket and a black tee shirt decorated with flames as well as blue jeans and Converse shoes. She smiled when she saw me and ran over to give me a hug.

"Happy birthday sweetie." I tell her with a kiss on her forehead.

"She's growing up so fast." Hestia says from the bottom of the stairs.

"I've got your present, wanna see it?" I ask my daughter.

"Of course I do!" She tells me.

I wave my hand through the air and produce a bright blue box tied with a black ribbon. I hand the box to my daughter who's practically jumping up and down anxiously awaiting the present. I watch as she takes off the ribbon and opens the box. A brilliant white-blue light pours from the contents of the box which lightly illuminates my daughter's face and the wall behind her. Her mouth opens wide in awe as she takes out a silver necklace decorated by a brilliantly beautiful flat stone about the size of a drachma.

"That right there is made from the core of a neutron star. Artemis owed me a favor, so I asked her to produce this for your birthday present. We had to put some pretty thick magic on it so that it could actually be carried around, otherwise it would weigh more than the earth, but I think we did good." I explain to her as she admires the gemstone.

"Did good? Dad, you did amazing!" She says as she hugs me again.

I help her put it on and see the stone shimmer and shine, but not too much as to blind someone or force them to look away to protect their eyes. The gem looked marvelous around her neck, as if it suited her perfectly.

"May this be a light for you in the darkest of places when all other lights go out." I recite to her as she admires her reflection in a hallway mirror.

Hestia just smiled and shook her head at my lame attempt at a joke.

I walk over and hug my daughter again as Hestia also comes over to join the hug. I lean over my daughter's head and give Hestia a kiss as my dream fades out into black and I awake to see the real Hestia doing the same.

"Best wake up call ever." I tell her in a sleepy voice.

"I thought it would be." She responds.

We both sit up in bed and notice a dull light in the room. The sun hadn't risen yet, but it was just below the horizon brightening up the sky. I had to leave again today, why couldn't the day be less perfect? I didn't feel like leaving Hestia and camp again, but I knew I had to. The fate of the world rested with me, Percy and Nico getting the Helm of Darkness and defeating the sons of Kronos.

"I should go tend to the fire, feel free to join me if you want to." Hestia says as she stands up off the bed.

I get another close up view of Hestia in practically nothing at all. I had a burning desire deep down inside me, but I knew that I'd get my chance to really be with Hestia when my quest is over and done with. I crawl out of bed and get dressed as Hestia begins brushing her hair in a mirror near the door. She waves her hand and dresses herself again before turning the doorknob and leaving the cabin. I check her out from the window as she walks over to the fire pit which roars into life when she approached it. I can't take my mind off of this goddess. I honestly and truthfully want to spend my entire life with her, possibly even having kids some day. I don't know how I'm going to tell Hestia about the possibility of having a sort of non official relationship with Rachel yet... Maybe I'll just ask for her to join in with me and Hestia some day, but for now I'll just have to wait.

I fly myself over to the shower building and clean myself after spending time fighting and trekking through Tartarus before heading over to Hestia. I dry myself before hand using some hot air and I even try and style myself a little differently. I make my hair a little less messy and I even try to comb it out, but I quickly stop when a few teeth break trying to undo some knots. I just leave it as best as I can get it and leave to sit with Hestia. I end up laying down on the bench with my head in her lap while her fire kept trying to make me drift back to sleep. Hestia continuously ran her hand through my hair messying it back up again, but I don't care, I'm used to it by now. I had a perfect view. I could see a bright clear sky above me, a roaring camp fire beside me and the goddess I love above and beside me. Life couldn't get any better than this... For now.


	6. Chapter 6

I don't know how long I slept for, but I do remember laying down with my head in Hestia's lap with a warm fire beside me. When I opened my eyes, the fire was gone, not even a cinder remaining. It was as if the fire had died out years ago. The ash had been either blown away in the wind or caked between the cobbled stone on the bottom of the pit. As I sit up, I notice that there's an eerie feeling all around me, as if the world had just... Stopped. Even the very light of the world, it felt like the sun was gone, leaving the world in a never ending twilight.

"Hello?" I call out into the distance.

I receive no response. I can see only small piles of stones and splinters of wood jutting from the overgrown grass, moss and soil where the cabins used to be. The most that was left of any cabin would be the rusted and crumbling remains of the metal walls of the Hephaestus cabin which rose from the ground like large knives at odd angles. I start to panic as I see what very little is left of camp half-blood all around me. The fields were overgrown, the woods had been burned down, the cabins destroyed, the big house was non existent anymore. Someone or something had rampaged the camp, and I had a pretty good guess who.

"Hestia? Are you there? Zeus! Poseidon! Hades! Ares! Athena! Where are you?" I call out.

It was almost as if the wind had spoken to me, except it couldn't be, since there was no movement in the air. It came from nowhere and left just as easily.

"... We're here hero..."

"Who's there? The gods? What happened?" I ask to the sky.

I wait and wait, but no response comes. I wander around to where each cabin should have been. I can see small pieces of celestial bronze sticking out of the ground every now and again. A spear head here, an arrow there. I even see the broken end of Clarisse's spear holding an ares cabin flag to the ground where the cabin once stood. I continue on and kick over a small rock near the Athena cabin and find a small curved piece of metal. I try and lift it but find that it's connected to something buried under the dirt and grass. I start to dig with my hands until I uncover the corner of a celestial bronze chest. I manage to haul the chest out of the dirt and pry it open with the help of my sword. Inside I find scrolls, note books, rough architectural sketches, and an open laptop. I lift the laptop and find that it's completely dead. I give the charging port a quick zap with my finger and watch as a Delta symbol appears before fading out. When the screen lights back up again, there's a picture of Annabeth hugging Percy followed by a line for a password.

"Oh gods..." I mumble to myself as I try generic pass codes.

"Annabeth wouldn't let her password be something so simple... Maybe it's..." I say as I type Percy's name.

I receive an error message and a small word written below the line. The word was a "hint" to help with the password. All it said was "EEK!"

"What in Tartarus could that mean? Was she scared of something?" I say as I try a new set of passwords.

"Uh... Robbers... Bugs... Heights... Slimy things... Spiders." I try until the computer logs in.

That makes sense, I remember a few nights after I came to camp Annabeth jumped out of her chair when a small, barely visible spider crawled onto her table at dinner time. One of the other Athena kids just took a tissue and squashed the poor thing so she could sit back down. Maybe since she's that terrified of them, no one would think that was her password. I'm greeted by an automated message as soon as the laptop turns on. It's a video from the webcam of Annabeth inside the Athena cabin frantically trying to get the lens to focus.

"To whoever finds this, if anyone does, camp half-blood is being attacked! It's like all Tartarus has spilled out into the camp. Almost everyone is dead, Percy, Nico and Allan haven't been seen in weeks, and the gods have all but disappeared. He... He's come back. Kronos has come back. Not partially like last time, this time it's for real. His sons are gone, but that's not the problem... Chiron's dead... Clarisse is dead... Thalia's dead too... Kronos is personally killing anyone who's strong enough to hinder his plans..." Annabeth says to the camera.

I watch as the picture shakes as a large explosion blows the far wall off of the Athena cabin. In the midst of the fire and splinters of wood flying all around Annabeth, she shoves the still open laptop into the chest where I found it and covers it with her notes. As she turns around, I watch as a long black blade pierces through her chest and comes out her back. Her body goes limp as I see the color drain from her body as her blood flows to the floor. As Kronos brings back his scyth, Annabeth's body falls and closes the lid of the chest before a very long amount of time spent in utter darkness.

"Oh my gods... How long did I sleep for?" I ask myself as I close the laptop.

"Wait... This can't be real. If that really happened, I would have woken up or been killed too." I say as everything around me starts to darken.

"Yeah, I thought so... These dreams are going to scare the crap out of me." I say as I close my eyes.

When I next open my eyes, I see Hestia gently stroking my hair as the sun rested at high noon. I close my eyes and take in a deep breath before sitting up beside Hestia. I pull her in for a side hug before telling her what I just saw in my dream. She listens intently but never interrupts even when I tell her about the video I found.

"Half-bloods rarely dream normal things Allan... Usually it's glimpses of the future or of currently occurring things." She tells me.

"I know, I've seen visions of Elian and Angus a few times now. You don't think that could have been the actual future, do you?" I ask her.

"I... I do not know. The only one who can see the future as it will be is the Oracle of Delphi. The board is set... Maybe we can work against Kronos to stop this from happening. I... I don't want to die Allan..." Hestia sobs into my shoulder.

"I know Hestia. As long as I still draw breath, Kronos will never touch you, I swear on the Styx." I tell her.

"No! You're mortal! Your life is limited! Do not swear something that you cannot uphold! You're going to be taken by the Styx..." She cries harder into my shoulder.

Somehow I knew that I wouldn't break my promise, but I still had a gut feeling that I wouldn't be able to keep Hestia safe if Kronos returns. I comfort Hestia until Percy and Annabeth walk by.

"Uh... Hestia, are you okay?" Annabeth asks.

As soon as I see her, a quick glimpse of her death plays in my mind again. I look away as Percy raises and eyebrow at me.

"Are YOU okay Allan? You seem a bit... Off." Percy says.

"I'm fine... It's just... Nothing, don't worry about it. Hestia's just a bit worried about Kronos' sons building up an army." I lie.

"Uh huh... Anyway, Chiron has called all cabin leaders back to the big house for another meeting." Percy tells me before leaving.

I turn to Hestia and find that she stopped crying but still had her head on my shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry. I always stick to my promises." I tell her.

"I guess so..." She says.

"Just... Stay out of danger. Stay at camp unless absolutely necessary. I'm going to go see what Chiron wants." I say as I stand up.

Hestia jumps up and throws herself into another hug with me which it seemed like she didn't want to let go of. I give her a kiss when she finally let's go before flying off towards the big house to meet up with the rest of the cabin leaders.

"... His sons are up to something, but what that is, I do not know." I hear Chiron say.

"Well they wanted the symbols of power for themselves, what does that tell you? They wanted to destroy the gods with their own weapons." Clarisse says.

"But we've got two of them in our possession, the trident with me and the bolt with- Allan! Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear, no offense Nico." Percy says.

"None taken." Nico mumbles.

"Now all we need is the helm before we go and tear them a new one." I say to the group in front of me.

"True, but in the mean time we need to strengthen the camps protection. Thalia's tree and the Golden Fleece are doing a good job holding out monsters of all kinds, but children of a Titan? There's no way it'll hold them out." Chiron says.

"I've made plans on my laptop that we could use to build defensive installations around the perimeter. It's back in my cabin in-"

"A celestial bronze chest which holds all her notes and sketches and whatnot. It's got a Delta on the top and a very nice software layout." I say accidentally.

The rest of the group just stares at me questioningly until Annabeth speaks up.

"Have... Have you been in my cabin? And more importantly, in my stuff?" She says as she raises her voice.

"Well... Yes and no..." I answer truthfully.

"You little creep!" Annabeth yells as she advances on me.

Percy holds her back as the rest of the leaders give me very weird looks.

"When were you in my stuff?" Annabeth asks.

"Uh... This morning, but it's not what you think..." I answer her.

"Not what I think? You went into my cabin snooping around when we weren't there? Where else did you go, my underwear drawer?" She yells again.

"Oh for the god's sakes..." I say as I conjure up some Mist beside me until it formed into a circular disk.

My instinct took over when I touched my finger to my temple and received an electric shock. I then touch the Mist with the same finger and watch as an image appears in the mist like a home movie. I stand in silence as everyone watches me fall asleep and wake up in the destroyed camp. I touch the mist and the image freezes as if I paused the movie.

"What do you see here?" I ask to the group.

"I see... Almost nothing." Chiron answers.

I un-pause my memory movie and continue it until I look around at the destroyed cabins.

"And here?" I ask as I pause it again.

"Are those... The cabins?" Leo asks.

"The very same." I answer as I continue to show them what I saw.

They watch as I wander around and stop at the Ares cabin to which Clarisse's eyes widen at the sight of her spear and flag on the ground broken. Annabeth started to speak but was quickly quieted down by Chiron who was watching intently. Annabeth calms down when I reach where her cabin should be. Her eyes too widened when I unearthed her chest and open it to find her laptop and all her notes.

"That's my... And my notes are all there... And my laptop..." She stutters.

She watches as I charge the laptop and enter in the correct password mumbling about having to change it now and how creepy and accurate everything is. She jumps when she hears her own voice and looks back to see her battle worn and beaten up face staring back at her. They listen to her message and all gasp when they watch her death. Annabeth herself almost goes into shock as she starts shaking so bad as she clutches her chest in the same place where Kronos stabbed her. Chiron hands her some ambrosia and a small glass of nectar which she very slowly sips as I blow away the Mist beside me.

"I just watched myself die... And I heard about everyone else dying... I... I..." She stutters as the godly food takes effect.

Annabeth starts to calm down as the food works it's magic. The rest of the campers just sat there silently until Chiron spoke and broke the silence.

"You dreamt that this morning?" He asks.

"Yeah, I only woke up like, 20 minutes ago." I reply.

"Well, we're screwed. It was nice knowing you guys." Leo says.

"No Leo, the future isn't set in stone. This may never come to pass. If we, and by that I mean Allan, Nico and Percy, retrieve the helm from the sons of Kronos and defeat them soon, Kronos will not be able to rise, which means he won't be able to destroy the camp." Chiron tells him.

"And if they don't?" Clarisse asks.

"Then we're screwed." Chiron replies.

"Anyway, here's you laptop Annabeth." I say as I float the laptop into the room which I used the winds to retrieve while they were talking. "I suggest we use whatever she's got to defend this camp from whatever Kronos can throw at us. You've done it before, so let's do it again."

Chiron dismisses the very shaken up council to work with Annabeth in fortifying the camp with her ideas. Nico catches me before I fly off to help in the preparations to talk to me in private.

"Listen... You've seen some stuff, bad stuff. Coming from me, that's saying a lot, since I'VE seen some pretty bad stuff. Now listen, if that vision is spot on, the world is doomed, so what do you have in mind to stop it?" He asks.

"Well... We could... Uh... Well, we'll start by taking back them helm and merging it with you, then the three of us will tear through whatever army Elian and Angus are raising until we get to them. Bing bang boom, we put their heads on pikes and toss there bodies into the face of Tartarus, sound good?" I say.

"Sounds fine, but doing it will be the hard part." He says.

I walk with Nico for a short time in silence before speaking up about what's on my mind.

"You know Nico, I have a strong connection with you." I tell him.

His look changes from his normal dreary into an almost hopeful look.

"Not like, romantically, but more like a best friend, even a brother. Everyone at camp looks at my like I'm some angel sent to guide them and Percy just questions everything I do. You're the only person who doesn't treat me like someone I'm not. We just... I dunno how to describe it. I feel like we just understand each other, even if we actually don't." I tell him.

"Oh, well, we are cousins, so we're biologically close... And children of the Big Three are usually distinctly different from the rest of the demigods around here, us two most of all. I'm an outcast and you're a prince, Percy's kinda normal compared to us, so that's why I think we get along so well." He tells me.

"Yeah, I guess so. So what say we go get that helm and kick some Titan ass?" I ask.

"If it comes down to it, I'll follow you to whatever end it takes to save the world." He tells me.

I take his comment to heart. Here's a person, one who's willing to lay down his life for me so that I could end Kronos' plans and save the world. I walk with him until I meet up with Percy.

"Are we leaving again?" Percy asks.

"Yup. We need to get the helm and quick. You saw the vision." I tell Percy.

"Yeah, I watched my girlfriend get skewered!" He says back angrily.

"Calm down Percy. You need to cool it." Nico tells him.

"Don't tell me what to do you skeletal freak!" Percy says as he uncaps his sword Riptide in a quick swipe.

Within a split second I close my fist and conjure my own sword which I use to swipe his out of his hand with ease. All three of us watch as the sword transforms back into a pen and falls to the ground. I level my sword at Percy's throat to stop him from attacking Nico again.

"Dude, totally uncalled for." I tell him as he backs up.

The look in his eyes was of rage and anger. His eyes shine all green as the trident materialized in his hands. I release my sword and conjure the bolt into my own hands to match Percy.

"Percy, you said your emotions were all over the place like waves on the sea. You need to control that or you're going to get someone killed." I tell him.

"Control it? I have control! I've been the hero before and I can do it again! We don't need you here! Everything was fine until you showed up!" Percy yells at me as he levels the trident towards me.

"And where would you be without me! You'd be dead multiple times over if I hadn't stepped in and saved your ass! On the way to Olympus, ME! On your way to Tartarus, ME! Getting away from those Egyptian kids, ALL ME! Either put the trident away or I'll force you to." I tell him.

"Percy! Stop!" I hear Annabeth call out as Percy lifts the trident to attack.

I watch as Annabeth runs in between me and Percy. She lowers the trident in his hands and whispers into his ear until the trident disappears. Her actions remind me somewhat of the Hulk and Betty Ross. I let the bolt disappear also before I call out to Percy.

"If you're still up to it, we'd still like you to be part of this quest." I tell him.

I can see Nico's expression of pain and anguish on his face as I turn towards him. He just puts up the hood on his hoodie and walks away.

"I'll come with you, but if you ever tell me what to do ever again, I'll put the trident straight through your heart." He tells me.

I give him a nod before going after Nico. I follow him to the forest before he stops and turns around.

"He's usually pretty nice to me... I don't know what got into him..." Nico says.

"Power, that's what got into him. The ocean covers like 75% of the earth, which probably makes him feel all high and mighty, except that's where I come in. I've got more jurisdiction anywhere than he does, so I'll keep him in line. By the way, are you okay Nico? You seem hurt." I ask.

"Gods, I'm always hurting." He admits to me.

"Why's that?" I ask.

"Well, my sister is dead, I'm still a loner, my only real friends are dead people, and to top it off, I think I still have the biggest crush on someone I can never be with." He admits to me.

"That... That is pretty tough. I can't imagine what you're life has been like Nico, but know this; whether he admits it or not, Percy does care about you, as I do also. We need you as much as we need him. You're the only one who we can merge the helm with to help beat Kronos and his sons. If it makes you feel any better, I've always preferred your company over Percy's." I tell him.

Nico's expression lightened up a bit as he followed me back towards the camp. Me, Nico (and an army of dead people) and Percy all spend the rest of the day prepping the camp for total lockdown by following the plans of Annabeth. Her ideas consisted of layers upon layers of additional enchantments put around the camp, cameras placed around in the forest and even on the roads leading towards the camp, and traps that would bring a god to their knees as Hestia pointed out. I spent the day doing most of the heavy lifting with Percy since we both had the strength from the trident and the bolt to help us, so setting up most of the defenses was a quick task. Lunch was skipped so that preparation could continue, but by evening, all the defenses had been set up and most of the camp was on the verge of collapse. Dinner was longer than usual since everyone tried to get as much as they could hold after the long day of work and the long days to come. Hestia was already waiting for me in my cabin by the time I got back.

"How are you feeling?" She asks.

"A bit tired and scared. You?"

"More scared than anything." She says as I flop down on the closest bed.

"Well, with Nico and Percy with me, we should be able to over power the twins and get the helm. Then we muster an army of three and charge into battle to destroy them once and for all." I say before I yawn.

"You three carry the fates of us all. In fact, the Fates themselves have been seen tying the threads of your life, Percy's, Nico's and the twin's lives all together. You're meant to do this, you're all meant to end up in this fight." She says as she sits down beside me.

"I just hope I... Get to fight... With all I've... Got." I say in between yawns.

I close my eyes and start to drift off as I feel Hestia lay down beside me. I wrap my arm around her just as I slip into unconsciousness. My dreams showed Rachel Dare sitting on her bed surrounded by easels and paints of all different colors. She appeared to be shaking as she stared at her feet instead of the art in front of her.

I can see a painting of me and Hestia sharing a kiss in the far corner of the room, except Rachel must have taken a knife to it because it was stabbed and torn up in multiple places. Beside it was the most detailed painting in the room, but even as detailed as it was, it looked like it was faint, almost like I was looking at it through fogged up glass. It showed a young girl of about ten or so standing in front of a Greek style building. Her face looked similar to Rachel's, only a little different. Her hair was long and black, but elegant looking. I just hoped that it isn't who I think it is.

Rachel then hopped up and started to pull out a blank canvas and fresh paint. I watched as she painted me in my armor wielding the bolt descending from the sky with the sun directly behind me so that my silhouette was really the only thing visible. She kept painting and switching to start other paintings for a long time before she almost passed out at her canvas. Her paintings told of me flying into a storm of fire and lightning to a black figure I couldn't make out, as well as me in compete blackness with a look of pure rage on my face. They looked like scenes from a battle I hadn't yet fought. Before she could fall asleep on the floor, Rachel changes into her pajamas and leaves the room. I couldn't help but stare as she did so, but immediately felt bad because of being with Hestia, added to the fact that Rachel apparently doesn't wear anything under her pajamas, making me feel very guilty for looking. Come to think of it, I still haven't told her about the "plans" Rachel has for me once everything is over with.

My dream shifts until I'm standing over a person in full black armor which covers their entire face. I can see their eyes shining gold through their helmet and realize it must be either Elian or Angus. I notice a glow from either side of me though, one green and one blue. I look to the sides and notice that whoever is below me in pinned down to the ground by the bolt and the trident which have skewered both their wrists. My sword is leveled at their throat and, believe it or not, they looked scared for their life.

"Come on hero... DO IT! End it if you can! I honestly don't think you have the balls to kill me, you're weak! You're-" He says before I bring my sword pommel down hard onto his helmet, denting it inwards.

I call for the bolt to return to my hand and notice the trident does also. I wonder how I did this as I look around for Percy. I notice that I'm standing in the hall of the gods, their throne room. Each throne was empty, void of its god or goddess. The hearth in the corner of the room was extinguished and the front doors smashed in. It appears as if I fought my way in here before pinning him down. I wander outside and see that Olympus is all but gone; smashed into oblivion.

I knew just who destroyed it too. I turn around and walk back into the throne room with both symbols of power in my hands before stopping dead in my tracks. Where my enemy lay, now only held a small pool of golden blood. I look around but find nothing. As the trident and bolt disappear, I feel a hand on the back of my head before my dream stops abruptly.

"Allan, are you alright?" I hear Hestia ask as I woke up.

As you open my eyes, I see that I'm sitting up in my bed with the bolt in my hand. Hestia has the blanket we were sharing moments before pulled up to her chin and looking pretty scared.

"Yeah, bad dream, again." I tell her as the bolt once again faded away.

"What did you see this time?" She asks.

"I don't know, I seem to be getting glimpses of the future, or possible futures. I saw myself defeating one of the brothers. I saw Olympus destroyed and when I was looking away, the brother escaped." I tell her.

Hestia laid there thinking for a short time before sitting up. Gods damn it, why can't she be less of a tease? When she sat up, she was once again in nothing but her underwear. I didn't even hear the first sentence she said because I was too distracted. I had to force myself to look away before asking her to repeat what she said.

"I said, do you feel like you're strong enough to defeat this evil? Can you overcome them or will you fail?" She asks a bit annoyed.

"I... Yes. I'm sure of it. The brothers will not win. I will see there heads on a silver platter before I see them bring Kronos back again." I tell Hestia.

"Good. Now get up, it's almost sunrise." She says as she stands up.

I'm once again graced with a view of Hestia in her breathtaking beauty as she waltzes towards the door.

"I just need to ask, how do you stay laying there all night if you can't sleep? Surely it must get boring." You ask.

"Oh, well I just think about the first thing that pops up. When you're cuddling with me in your sleep, it's not hard to find something to think about, it just, pops up." She says with a suggestive wink.

I go a little red as I realize what she's talking about. Hestia's figure shimmers as she adopts a new outfit, a pair of black short shorts and a grey tee shirt. She turns and blows me a small kiss which I actually feel land on my cheek before leaving the cabin. I get up after she leaves and dress in my usual fashion before leaving to head over to the dining hall. I see Chiron pacing back and forth with a large mug of coffee on the table next to him. I watch as he chugs the remaining amount before saying "more coffee" to the mug which refills itself so he can take another drink.

"Ugh, more sugar." He says to the mug with a disgusted look on his face.

He takes another sip and sighs with a content smile on his face before seeing me out of the corner of his eye.

"Ah, Allan, why are you up so early?" He asks as he drinks again.

"Um, bad dream... I'm getting a lot of those lately." I tell him.

"Why are you up? You sleep, don't you?" I ask.

"Pfft, not lately. I've been almost living of coffee! It's pretty good coffee too. Before Pan died, he showed me how to grow the plant just right, but that was about a thousand years ago! I almost forgot how to do it... Here, would you like a cup?" Chiron asks.

"Uh, sure. Maybe it'll help me wake up some more." I answer.

"Oh my boy, it'll do more than wake you up. Coffee, sugar, milk." He says to another, smaller mug.

He hands me the warm cup and takes another big gulp from his own. I take a sip and notice that it's not hot, but perfectly warm. It tasted better than any coffee I've ever had in my life. I can honestly say it's better, way better than Tim Horton's coffee by far. I take a big gulp and feel the coffee fill me with warmth from head to toe, kinda like how Hestia does with her fires. It also gave me enough energy that I felt like I could fight a war on my own, single handedly holding off the entire force of Tartarus with nothing but my bare hands.

"So, what have you been up to all night?" I ask.

"Oh me? Oh, let's see, drinking coffee, lots and lots of coffee... Trying to spot any imperfections in Annabeth's plans... There aren't any, not that I'd think that there were. Oh, and also brooding over the fact that I apparently die when the camp gets attacked. You know, happy thoughts." He tells me.

"Uh huh... Well, thanks for the coffee, but I think I'm going to go... Uh... Fly around for a little while." I say as I drink the last of the coffee and set my mug down before I float backwards out of the dining hall.

I decide to fly around and shape some clouds into different shapes just to pass the time until I had to leave camp again. I was leisurely floating past a giant cloud-eagle which I actually made fly along side me when I feel a slight change in the air currents beneath me. I turn my head and look down to see a black Pegasus flying towards me at great speed. I close both fists to ready my sword and shield before I hear Nico call out to me.

"Hey, it's just us." He says as the Pegasus circles around me.

I see Percy on the beast's back also with Nico sitting behind him. I let go of my armaments and fly along beside them.

"Is it time to leave again?" I ask.

"Yeah. Here, I picked up your pack from your cabin and restocked it before heading up here to get you." Nico says as he tosses me my bag.

"Thanks Nico. So, where are we off to Percy?" I ask.

"Wherever your head leads us I guess." He replies.

I don't say anything out loud, but I'm starting to think that the power of the trident is affecting Percy's head. He's become very arrogant since he took on the symbol of power.

"Oh, right." I say.

With my eyes closed, I locate the helm almost immediately. I can see a small black dot on the edge of the larger red one, showing that the two brothers are together in the same place. You can see that the two brothers currently occupy the entirety of Area 51.

"Let's go west, back to Nevada. We'll confront the brothers and take the helm back to Olympus so Nico can bond with it, then we'll attack them and their army head on." I tell them.

"Blackjack, you think you can make a trip like that?" Percy asks the Pegasus.

It simply neighs and shakes its head in response.

"Blackjack can't fly that far, could you just zap us there instead?" Percy asks.

"Sure thing." I say as I grab ahold of Nico and Percy.

The three of us in addition to the Pegasus dematerialize and race over the US until we arrive over desert. The rest of the trip passes very quickly as I soon see the secret base on the horizon.

"Wanna be polite and knock first, or just kick down the door?" I ask Percy and Nico.

"I have no idea what you mean, but I think we should, uh, kick the door down." Nico says.

I give a sly smile as I place my aviator goggles over my eyes and rocket into the sky. I quickly move the largest clouds in sight directly over the base as I collect the lightning being sparked across the clouds. I summon the bolt into my hands and shoot towards the ground at breakneck speeds until I impact in the center of the base. I can see monsters around me vaporize into dust as my energy shockwave blasts them all apart. I didn't leave any physical crater, only a very powerful explosion of energy which shattered windows, kicked up sand and sent monsters straight back to Tartarus. Within seconds, Percy and Nico land beside me and hop off Blackjack who takes off into the sky.

"Yup, I think they heard you." Percy says as the two brothers emerge from a building at the far end of a nearby runway.

I zip up my jacket and reveal my armor as I see hundreds, maybe thousands of monsters start to pour out of the surrounding buildings until a wall of shields and spears stands between me and the brothers on the end of the runway. I could easily fly over them to get to the brothers, but the amount of archers they have would destroy Percy and Nico if I were to take them too. I can see a green glow from the corner of my eye, which turns out to be Percy holding the trident.

"It's weak here, I won't be of much use unless I get water to work with." He tell me.

"On it." I reply as I will the clouds to condense until they're as dark as night above us.

The only source of light would be the bolt, the trident, and the light bulbs burning all over the base. I give a slight tug on the clouds until I'm soon standing in the middle of a torrential downpour which soaks me to the core in seconds. I see the light from the trident grow brighter as the water continues to pour around me.

"Ah, here we go, all three of us in our element." Percy says with a deep inhale and content sigh.

"Darkness, a storm, and of course, water." Nico says as the darkness solidifies into his armor around him.

I watch as bright blue flames lick away under his armor until he's nothing but a skeleton in a Stygian iron suit of armor. He unsheathes his sword as warriors from different time periods emerge from the ground before me. Spartans with wide circular shields and long spears, army soldiers with sniper rifles, cavalry men on horseback and row after row of foot soldiers with assault rifles, axes, swords and flame throwers. I can see Percy controlling the water until he's surrounded in at least a two feet or so of water which just turns him into a ten foot tall water giant. I could swear that I've seen this kind of thing somewhere before... Maybe in a video game... Something where the guy kills... Poseidon. It was God of War 3, that's it.

"Nice Percy, although not very original." I tell him.

"Shut up... It looks cool..." He says as he hefts a massive trident over his head and hurtles it into the enemy's army.

The trident blasts a narrow strip through the monsters and return back to Percy's hand as the enemy reforms its ranks. I can see more and more monsters pooling out of buildings on all sides of the runway. I take to the sky and hurl the bolt straight at the closest building where the monsters are coming from. I can see the building explode with fire and electricity as monsters disintegrate inside. When the dust settles, all I see is rows upon rows of very tightly packed quadruple stacked bunk beds (or what's left of them) inside the warehouse. The brothers must have been keeping them there until it was time to fight.

I look down and see Nico commanding his troops to fire into the enemy's lines. I see archers shooting volleys under me which impact and take out a large swath of monsters farther into the ranks as soldiers start shooting at the ones in front. It's starting to look too easy to win until a large, blacker than black hand comes flying over the monster army until it smacks down into Nico's troops. I can see the brother with the helm, Angus, down on one knee with his palm sunk into the stone before him. As he stands, the giant black hand rises into the air also. He must have constructed it out of the power of the helm and is controlling it with just that. He forms a fist and brings it down a second time, but this time it slows before striking the ground, as if someone was trying to push him back. I can see Nico with both hands up as if to block the hand from coming down and realize that he's using his powers to slightly manipulate the construct of darkness. I try to use the winds and lift the hand, but fail to do more than blow away the dust beneath it. Duh, it's made out of darkness, how could you lift it? I return my focus to the fight and send the bolt flying into another warehouse. You didn't get a very large explosion from this one, but that's only because there wasn't anything inside it other than a large hole... One which had hundreds of monsters pouring out of it. They must have been able to climb or fly their way out via the use of Elian's powers. I send the bolt down once more and decimate the monsters emerging from the pit of Tartarus. Before I could react, Angus uses his giant hand to punch straight up into the air. The hit knocks me back a few kilometers from the fight and into the desert. I don't hit the ground, but I do backflip and land on my hands and feet before rocketing back to the fight. I fly straight into the monster army with a buffer zone of wind around me so that no attacks could hit me as I flew. I kept knocking aside monster after monster until I fly-tackled Angus at the rear of the army. The force from my hit forces Angus to lose control over the darkness momentarily so that the hand disappeared. When it did, Nico sent his ground forces racing towards the enemy with guns blazing and swords swinging. Percy charged with them as started knocking aside great chunks of monsters with his trident as Nico rode Blackjack over the battle tossing down jars of Greek fire which incinerated monsters left and right. I used the winds to keep arrows away from Nico as I flew upwards with Angus.

"That was a good hit, but I hit harder!" Angus yelled as he brought both hands down into my back.

Even though my armor held, the blow went right through. It sent me and Angus plummeting to the ground until we both crashed. I had enough strength to raise my hand and call down a bolt of lightning to rejuvenate me before Angus was on me again. I stood and summoned my shield just as his fist collided with it. The shield took all the force of the punch and sent me flying backwards into the dirt. I fly yourself back to my feet as Angus runs after me. Using my speed over his, I duck under his next swing and bring the bolt back into my hand which I brought into his gut. The collision wasn't deadly, but it did do a number on Angus. The jolt from the master bolt sent him backwards into a watch tower which collapsed on top of him. I advance on the wreckage as I see him pushing rubble out of the way so he can climb out. The was a black scorch mark on his armor (now melted a little) from where the bolt met him.

"Allan! Take him out!" I hear Percy call out over the clamor of the battle behind me.

I watch as Angus once again advances on me. I stop and feel the exertion this fight has put on my body. My arms feel heavy, I can barely fly anymore, and I think I still have a few broken ribs from my fall. Angus is only a hundred meters away when he breaks into a run. I watch as the darkness swirls around him until he's just a cloud with two gleaming, golden eyes shining at me. I close my fist and summon my sword to which I hear laughter coming from Angus.

"Trading the bolt for a sword? How pathetic!" He says as he draws nearer.

I look back one final time before Angus lunges at me out of the darkness with two gleaming sickles. With the last of my strength, I vault into the air over Angus in a summersault fashion. As I cross over his head, I bring my blade down (actually up since I'm upside down at this point) until the point connects with the back of the Helm of Darkness. My slash actually sent the helm right off Angus's head and into the sky. I used the winds to control the helm until it landed in my hands, well behind Angus. The battle momentarily stopped as everyone realized what I've done. I just separated the last symbol of power from Angus.

"No... NO! Get it back!" I hear Elian call from the battle.

Angus charges me but I just float into the sky. I send a lightning bolt down which strikes Angus on the top of the head and renders him unconscious. I see Nico shadow travel until he stands beneath me, so I drop the helm straight into his hands. Reverting back to his human form, he whips off his old helmet and slowly lowers the Helm of Darkness onto his head. The second it touched his head, I felt the darkness around me thicken as if it were a viscous liquid, making everything hard to do, even moving was slow and hard. I watched as Nico walked towards the enemy army with his sword swinging back and forth at his side. I saw the darkness around Percy's head condense into a solid as Nico turned his back to me. What I saw next baffled you. Every monster that looked at Nico took on an absolutely terrified look on it's face until it's eyes burst into flame along with the rest of its body. Elian had enough sense to close his eyes and keep them closed. Once the last monster died, the darkness lifted and Nico turned to face me.

"Nico... What did you just do?" I ask.

"I showed then what they didn't want to see." Was all he said before he collapsed.

I caught him before he hit the ground, but he was still unconscious. Percy also joined me in tending to Nico until I realized that Elian was gone, and so was Angus. Percy took the helm off Nico to give him some ambrosia and nectar to get him to wake up again, but I knew better than to leave the helm unattended. I reached out and grabbed the helm just as Elian and Angus tried to grab it from behind me. The electrical current from my hand into the helm then transferred to them as they touched it which sent them backwards as if an explosion came from the helm.

"Let's finish them while they're weak." Percy says as he summons his trident.

"And risk them reclaiming the helm? No way Percy, we're going back to Olympus ASAP." I tell him.

"No we're not, let's kill them." Percy says as he steps towards them.

I use the wind to pull Percy back until I can grab ahold of him an Nico at the same time. I zap myself, Nico and Percy back to Olympus just as Angus stands back up with Elian slung over his shoulder.

"I told you if you ever-" Percy says before I cut him off.

I touch my finger to Percy's head and shock him into unconsciousness as well. Nico started to stir, but he's still out for the count. I pick them both up and head through the large doors into the throne room of the gods. The Olympians have all gathered again around the U shaped hall as they have countless times in the past and all have their eyes fixed on me.

"We felt the ground shaking. We're on a floating mountain and we still felt the ground shake. What were you doing?" Zeus asks me.

"We fought, we bled and we kicked some serious ass. The brothers no longer have the helm." I tell the gods.

I hold up the helm and show them as proof. They all cheer and clap as they shrink to human size to congratulate me. All the gods, even Ares, wanted to know how I got the helm off Angus. I told them it was stupidity and slow thinking on his part which allowed me to almost pull it right off his head.

"Yeah, and he put on a pretty good light show too." Nico adds as he sits up and rubs his head.

Aphrodite rushes forwards with a plate and a cup of ambrosia and nectar which he slowly takes as he tells his side of the story. I take a few pieces of ambrosia and munch away as Nico recounts the events of his battle with Elian. Apparently while I was off fighting Angus, Elian was using his powers over time to make sure none of Nico's personal attacks ever actually hit him. They sat locked in combat from the moment Nico clashed with him until Nico took the helm into his own possession. Zeus once again waved his hand and woke up Percy who immediately turned towards me.

"How dare you!" He yells as he charges me with the trident in his hands.

I stand where I am until he levels the trident at my throat. His face showed hatred and rage, while mine was set in stone, no emotion showing whatsoever. He pulled back the trident to strike, but stopped. He stood there on the verge of attacking for a few seconds before lowering the trident and backing away.

"Oh gods... My mind is tearing itself apart... I need to control it! My mind feels like waves crashing onto rocky shores! I need... To control... My mind!" He yells as he clamps his hands over his temples.

I watch as Percy stumbles backwards before falling to his knees. From the doors of the throne room, I can see the waters off the coast of New York raging back and forth, tossing ships up and down, flooding streets until suddenly, everything went quiet and the water receded. The waves stopped and the water was still again. I take a look at Percy and find him still on his knees, but no longer clutching his head.

"So.. You've done it then? You've controlled your mind?" I ask.

"Yeah... And I feel a lot better... All I had to do to calm myself down was think of my mom, just... My mom... She always calms me down when I'm upset..." Percy says.

"Well done Percy. Now you know the full power of the oceans. They can be temperamental and destructful, or they can be peaceful and prosperous. Keep a calm state of mind and you'll succeed." Poseidon tells him.

"Could have told me that before now." Percy mumbles to himself as he gets up.

"Now, I think it's time to finish what we started." Hades says to the rest of the gods.

They all understand and step back and hades steps forwards towards Nico. Hades takes the helm and places it on Nico's head before placing a hand on either side on his head.

"Are you ready son?" He asks Nico.

"Not really..." Nico answers.

"Too bad." Hades replies and his hands erupt into two blinding balls of light.

I can hear Nico scream in pain as if the helm was being forged while still on his head. The helm soon started to absorb all the light coming from Hades' hands and all in the room until Nico's body disappears into a cloud of dark smoke. When the light returned to the room, which it does slowly as if the sun was coming up, a shadow shimmered into existence where Nico once stood. It was as if someone's shadow decided to stand upright instead of laying across the ground at the person's feet. The shadow slowly solidified until Nico stood there once more. Nico slowly raises his hand then slashes downwards which creates a stripe of darkness suspended in the air. It was as if he cut reality in half. The inside of where he slashed looked nothing like anything I've ever seen. It was as dark as the helm itself, but it also seemed to be alive, like the darkness was something that I could touch, hear, and communicate with. Nico traced his palm along the tear in reality until he sealed it shut.

"Darkness is a living thing." Hades tells him.

"It will obey you until your death." He tells him.

"Death... Death would not stop me." Nico says to no one in particular.

"I feel... Almost evil... Like I want to take some darkness out and torture and torment the wicked and evil." He admits.

"I'll tell you this now; from now on, you are a fear, and you are possibility. The dark holds many secrets, even I don't know them all. You alone now hold the power to see through the darkness to the light on the other side, because beyond darkness and despair, there lies light and hope, something children of mine are not known for, but they still show everyone the way. Even while confronting death, one can then find the strength in hope that keeps them going." Hades tells his son.

"With all three symbols of power secured, now comes the challenge of stopping Kronos' sons from doing anything else to endanger us." Zeus says.

"We need you to end this once and for all. Go and kill them where they stand." Poseidon tells the three of us.

The three of us stand before the gods as mortal equals, possibly superior to them now that we wield the most powerful weapons in existence. Nico wore the helm, Percy held the trident, and I stood between them with the master bolt clutched in my hand.

Me, Percy and Nico leave the hall and walk forwards with no sense of real destination or even a clue as to what to do next. I just walk with my cousins, proud to be bearers of the symbols of power, the very items that brought the Titans to their knees, the same items we're going to use to end Kronos once and for all. Who says a Titan can't die?


	7. Chapter 7

The three of us stayed on Olympus for the rest of that day so we could rest and plan our next attack on the sons of Kronos. Nico found out that since he is, himself, darkness now, he can shadow travel even in daylight, and it doesn't even tire him out anymore. He even proved it by going to China and picking up some food for the three of us. Throughout the next few hours, some of the gods stopped by to offer help or advise towards our plans. Athena showed up every half hour or so to critique our plans and alter them as she saw fit, Ares just wanted us to kill them as painfully as possible, Poseidon wanted Percy to drown them both and Hephaestus just wanted the killing blow to be dealt by the weapon his son created for me.

"I don't care if I get to kill him or not, I just want him out of our lives for good." Nico says at one point.

"Ok, so it'll either be Allan or me. I'm stronger than Allan, so I have a better chance of getting to them first." Percy says.

I decide to settle it once and for all, a challenge to see who's the stronger demigod. We both agree to a simple arm wrestle to determine who's the strongest. I sit myself down on the opposite side of a stone table with Percy in front of me, in the middle of a lush garden just off to the side of the god's throne room.

"No powers?" Percy asks.

"Agreed. Now on three. One... Two... Three!" I say as I begin to push against Percy's arm.

I could see Percy going red in the face from exertion as he pushed back, except neither of us went anywhere, we were both in the same place. I kept watching as Percy took very deep breaths and held them for a long time before exhaling and also holding for a long time before taking another breath. That's when I came up with a plan. I waited and kept pushing until Percy exhaled before pushing with all my strength, catching him off guard. I managed to push his arm down a few inches before stopping. Percy sat there trying as he might to push me back, but it was hopeless. When the strength in his arm wore out, I pushed him down so hard I actually threw him sideways off the table and across the grass of the garden.

"Oh... My... Gods..." Percy said between breaths as he picked himself up off the grass.

"That... Was tiring." I admit.

"How long was that Nico?" Percy asks.

"Almost ten minutes." He says.

"Not bad... I guess you win Allan... You're stronger, I'll give you that." Percy says as he stands and shakes my hand.

"Ok, now what's the final plan?" I ask.

"First, we find the brothers, eliminate any monsters near them, hit them head on then toss their dead bodies into Tartarus." Nico tells us.

"Ok, so who's doing what?" I ask.

"Well, I thought that you would be the one to knock out any monsters nearby from the air, Percy would take out monsters on the ground and I'd set up a barrier so that neither of them could escape. Then we confront them and defeat them together." Nico says.

"Okay... So what if they've raised Kronos by that time? The combined strength of the gods was barely enough to best the Titan." I tell them.

"Well, we'll just have to stall him then." Percy replies.

"You haven't left yet?" I hear from behind me.

"No Mr. D, we're figuring out our plans." Nico says.

"Have you even been paying any attention to the horizon? Their armies are coming close to-" Dionysus stops.

"Close to what?" I say as I look around.

That's when I see an army larger than any I've seen concentrating on the horizon, in the same direction as camp half-blood.

"Go." Is all Dionysus says before disappearing.

"Uh, Percy?" I say as I turn and see him sprinting towards to edge of Olympus.

As he reaches the end, he jumps and dissolves into mist in mid air. I could feel him using the moisture in the air to propel him along towards camp. I take to the air also as I turn to Nico who is already in his armor with the Helm of Darkness on his head.

"Go, get there quick and raise an army to fight." I tell Nico.

Nico nods and shadow travels away instantly as I turn and zip up my jacket. My armor springs into life as I pull my aviator goggles down over my face before racing along the skies towards camp. I'm only flying for about 20 seconds before I'm over the camp. I can see Angus at the border of camp standing like he was holding up some invisible car or something, but that must be him holding the protective enchantments around the camp open so that his armies can pour through. I can see Nico lining up rows of archers and soldiers to open fire on the opposing forces while different campers flew overhead on Pegasi dropping bottles of Greek fire onto the larger monsters. Just then, Percy erupted from the ocean in his water giant form wielding his trident. He lines up a shot and blasts Angus with a concentrated beam of energy which launches him backwards, closing the enchantments once again. He then turned his attention to the attacking force of monsters pouring in towards the campers. He swiped his trident and sent a wave from the ocean crashing across the front lines of the enemy sending them to the ground, which Percy then used to his advantage by dragging them into the water where they drowned. There must be archers hidden sporadically throughout the trees around camp, because monsters kept dropping for no reason until Elian started noticing. He stopped every arrow near him dead in mid air as he himself started throwing Greek fire to flush them out. I saw demigod after demigod zip lining out of the trees and back to the big house, with a few getting picked off and falling to the ground from the enemy's arrows. Not wanting to see any more good half-bloods die on my watch, I summon the bolt in my hand and launch it straight into the center of the approaching army. The bolt blasted a crater and vaporized every monster in a hundred foot radius of the blast. Unfortunately, the blast also took a large chunk out of the barrier protecting the camp, which broke as if it were glass shattering, then disappearing.

"Ah, the only flaw!" I hear Chiron yell from below.

"Try not to do that too much!" He yells as he fires three arrows at an approaching row of harpies.

I land at the head of the Ares and Athena campers who have stood their ground against all monsters so far, not losing a single camper.

"Annabeth, take your cabin right after we break through their lines. Clarisse, take the Ares cabin left and encircle them, then strike from their entire left flank. Nico! Nico, have you warriors follow me straight down the middle, we're cleaving these armies straight in half." I say in command.

I take my place at the head of the charge before switching hands with the bolt and bringing my sword into my right hand. I then press the bolt into the blade which it absorbs into and supercharges my sword. It sparked and glowed with the same energy as the bolt, except now it's merged with me and my sword. Somewhere behind me, a horn sounds, deep and clear. Then another, and another. Then there was the sound of a large conch, which turns out to be Percy.

"Charge!" I yell over the sound of the warriors behind me.

I guide the half-bloods across the wide fields of my camp towards the enemy charging straight at us. Clarisse had already left with her cabin to approach from the left to flank the enemy. I watch as the monster set up ranks, spears in front, archers behind. As they let their arrows fly, I wave my hand and send their arrows right back at them. I take out the rows of spearmen before my charge collides with the armies of Angus and Elian. I cleave monster after monster in half, behead creatures and electrocute every demon in my path. Nico's soldiers slam into the wall of monsters which erupt into all out chaos. Annabeth's campers sweep right and take out the right flank of monsters as Clarisse returns and collides with the entire left flank, killing left and right to join me as I make my way right towards Annabeth. Just when we regroup and continue to fend off wave after wave of monster, I see the one thing that I didn't want to see; Elian and Angus together at the top of half-blood hill followed by a large troll of sorts pushing what looks like a dunk tank full of black water. The brothers give me the most cocky, arrogant look ever as they grasp each other's forearms and get lifted and dropped into the tank.

"The Styx... No! Archers! Fire!" I order as the Apollo cabin launches a volley at the brothers.

The troll just uproots a nearby tree (not Thalia's tree thankfully) and blocks the volley from reaching the brothers.

"They're taking the curse of Achilles! They'll be indestructible!" I hear Percy call from the water.

I watch as Nico shadow travels and beheads the troll before turning to the tank. Just as he raises his sword, the tank explodes into a flood of Styx water. I use the winds to lift Nico into the air and back to me before he could get drenched. The two brothers stood there looking no different, but I heard what the curse did. They were now as tough as solid steel with only one weak spot, which no one knew. Chiron fired an arrow which struck Elian between the eyes to which the arrow just splintered and fell to the ground. The monsters nearest to them started to retreat and build a barrier around the brothers to shield them from view.

"What are they doing? They're already invincible, why block them?" Nico asks.

"I don't know, but this can't be good. Archers, prepare to fire!" I call out again as I raise my sword above my head.

The entire Apollo cabin, or what's left of it after the fight, each notched at least two arrows and aimed at the wall of monsters building in front of them. They let loose their arrows which barely dented the wall now forming in front of me, but they did manage to take out a few in front of the brothers. When the monsters fell, I caught a glimpse at what the brothers were doing. They once again were holding each other's forearm and appeared to be chanting some sort of spell or ritual of sorts. Just as more monsters closed the gap, two bands of light, one white and one black started spinning around the brothers. Try as I might, I couldn't get back through the lines of the enemy. They had too many monsters at their disposal and whenever I'd kill one, five more would take it's place. I even tried blasting them with the bolt, but even that couldn't keep them down. I eventually just called for all demigods to form a Phalanx and wait for the enemy to make their move.

"Uh, stalemate?" I hear Leo say behind me.

"No... Maybe they're just waiting to unleash their king... The pawns are there to protect them, see? They're expendable." I reply.

"You don't mean Kronos do you? But he's gone, defeated and cast back into Tartarus." Annabeth tells me.

"I know, but it looked like the brothers were doing some sort of ritual over there, that's why they don't want to be hit for a while." I tell her.

"And you're letting them do it?" She replies.

"There's nothing we can do to stop them now. We'll just have to wait." I tell them.

We didn't have to wait long though, soon, the wall of monsters erupted and behind them stood a single man in black armor and golden eyes. He looked exactly like the brothers, except there was only one of them. I watch as darkness swirls in front of him and starts to solidify.

"Nico, stop him!" I yell.

"I can't stop it, whatever it is, it's not under my control." He tells me.

I watch in fear as the darkness forms into a long curved blade. A scythe. I know what the brothers did now.

"They combined their powers and created a perfect vessel for the essence of Kronos! They brought him back!" I yell to the camp.

"Yes young hero," I hear Kronos speak to me. "I HAVE returned, this time with my unhindered strength."

"We are so screwed..." Leo says.

"Gaze into the face of defeat half-bloods, it will be the last you ever see. Attack!" Kronos calls out to his army.

"Volley!" I yell once more.

The arrows rip through the advancing monster horde, but more and more keep coming. The Ares, Athena, Apollo and Hermes cabins all rush forwards to clash with the oncoming threat. Kronos doesn't even stay though, he just turns and walks away from the battle. He walks towards a dragon sitting beyond the trees which he mounts before taking to the air.

"Oh no you don't!" I say as I launch into the sky to intercept him.

I try to push him down with the winds, but he just freezes them in time and keeps going. I can see Nico behind me on Blackjack with Percy using the water in the air to fly along also. I can see Nico fly ahead of Kronos and conjure up a large wall of black energy to stop the Titan. As Kronos reaches it, he slices downwards through the barrier with his scythe before bringing it back up and colliding the back end with Nico's chest which send him and Blackjack backwards at breakneck speeds. I use the master bolt and summon a truly massive electrical storm to try and knock Kronos out of the sky. Whenever he gets close to getting struck, he just deflects the lightning with his scythe and moves on.

"Allan, I have a plan! Try and follow if you can!" Percy yells to me.

I watch as Percy separates from the water surrounding him and manipulates it so that it surrounds Kronos before closing in on him, encasing him in a large bubble of water. I use my powers to keep Percy in the air as he controls the water.

"Use the bolt!" He tells me.

I pull back and ready the bolt at the Titan trapped before me. I feel the weight of the sky, the surge of lightning and breakneck wind speeds trapped within my right hand. I hesitate for but a moment before focusing on the task at hand. I let loose the bolt with more force than I think I've ever been able to muster and watch as it penetrates the bubble of water and lights it up with a fantastic show of electricity and fire as the bolt collides with Kronos. The dragon disintegrates as the bubble explodes with the force of a small supernova. When I could see clearly again, Kronos was nowhere to be found, and from what Percy could tell, he didn't fall into the water. It was as if he disappeared. Percy took a few thousand foot free fall into the water to quickly search the surrounding areas before rising back to meet us. Nico sat in silence as he tracked everything within the darkness of the world and felt nothing. Kronos wasn't here.

"He's not gone just yet, remember, he controls time. He could be hundreds of years in the future for all we know." Percy tells us.

"Or in Olympus right now!" Nico yells out.

Nico takes off racing towards the city of the gods as me and Percy fly ahead. I see Olympus floating as a white jewel above New York, pristine and whole. I zap myself ahead and land on the smooth white rock in front of a plaza before looking around for any sign of the lord of time.

"Who's throne will be first Allan? Zeus? Artemis? Maybe I'll go relieve myself into Hestia's fire instead. How does that sound?" I hear Kronos taunt from behind a nearby pillar.

"You stay away from her or I swear to the gods I'll-" I say before I feel myself freeze.

"Or what? I've got you now demigod. You'll never save her, you'll never save Olympus, you can't even move. In fact, you're going to die before you even get to see her again. Think your last pathetic thoughts mortal, my scythe will rip your very soul away from your feeble, frail little body." Kronos says as he swings back his scythe and takes aim at my neck.

I feel fear spread through me like a poison. If I die, so does the power of the master bolt. What if he's able to tap into the powers of the people he's killed? He'd gain control of the strongest weapon in history. Just as he sounds back a bit farther, two armor plated boots collide with the side of his head, launching him sideways through the walls of the nearest building.

"Nico! By the gods you have good timing!" I say as I sigh.

"MORTAL! YOU WILL DIE!" Kronos yells as he lifts a pillar off of himself.

"What are you two-" I hear Zeus say as he approaches me and Nico with the other Olympians behind him.

"Ah, Zeus, Hades, just in time to watch your sons die by my hand." Kronos tells him.

"No death will occur on Olympus today, titan lord." Zeus replies as he takes an offensive stance against Kronos.

"And what do you plan to do? Punch me? Slap me?" Kronos jokes.

Kronos' taunting of Zeus was the tipping point for me. As Kronos turned his back to mock my father, I once again touched my finger to my head to contain a thought, then I tapped both Nico's and Percy's head who had materialized beside me out of some steam. Both nodding in agreement, I took my chance and summoned the master bolt in my hand and prepared to attack.

"You have no power anymore you self proclaimed king of Olympus! Your bolt rests with-"

"ME!" I say as I stab the master bolt through Kronos' chest from behind.

The bolt cut through his armor and pierced his body as it would any creature. With the electric power of the bolt passing through his body from the inside, Kronos was paralyzed. Noticing his cue, Percy hooked Kronos' scythe between the prongs on the trident and forced it out of his hand and to the ground. When it was a safe distance away, he brought the end of the trident back up, striking Kronos in the face with the end, stunning the titan. I then pull the bolt back out, kick Kronos forward, then unleash a lightning strike which rockets him forward. Nico then opened a portal in front of him which closed as soon as he flew through it.

"Nicely done, I don't think I'd have done it any better myself." Zeus says as he approaches me, Nico and Percy.

"Combat instinct... It's a bit more natural now that I've actually been in combat. Anyway, where did you send him Nico?" I ask.

"Tartarus." Nico replies.

"That won't hold him child." Hades says.

"I know, but it bought us some time. We need a plan." Nico tells them.

"Maybe I can buy us some more time. Where's the closest entrance to Tartarus?" I ask.

"You're not going down there again, are you?" Apollo asks me.

"Only if I have to. Maybe I'll give them another little jolt to keep them in place, maybe a few trillion joules to the face." I tell them.

"Yellowstone. It's not just a volcano, the magma chamber goes straight to the pit. I use it as a forge every now and again." Hephaestus informs me.

"Isn't Yellowstone overdue for an eruption? If it blows it's top, the mortals will die. What's the likelihood that it will?" I ask.

"Not very. It only erupts when I want it to. The mortals haven't angered me in a very long time, so it'll stay cool." He tells me.

"Good. I'll be back." I as I dematerialize and zap myself to the volcano.

I walk around the inside of the volcano on the floor of cooled magma for a while, tracing my hand along the wall for any irregularities. On my third lap, I notice what feels like a depression in the rock in the shape of a black smith's hammer. When my fingers passed over it, the rock flashes fire red, then the outline of a door starts to form. When the outline faded, I gave the rock a push. As if on hinges, which it might have been, the rock swung forward to allow me into Hephaestus' workshop. Taking a moment to admire the perfectly carved and smoothed walls and steps leading to the workshop, I fly myself down and emerge in a large room filled with anvils, tables, drawing boards, half completed robot looking animals and creatures, and even a lava fall taking up the entire wall farthest from the entrance. I had to surround yourself in a bubble of cool air to avoid passing out from the heat. I don't see any entrances to the pit anywhere, but I had a good feeling as to where all that lava was going. Flying myself over to the lava fall, I notice a ten foot gap between the lava and the floor. Taking a peak, I see the lava fall until I could no longer see the light from it falling into the pit. Flying over the edge, i go underneath the floor of the workshop and summon the master bolt into my hand. I take aim into the pit and feel a surge of energy previously dormant inside me. Unleashing my attack, an enormous sustained energy blast from the master bolt rocks the ground around me and shakes the very air as the lightning races into Tartarus.

"Three... Two... One... Uh... Two... One..." I say before BOOM!

I once again feel the ground and air shake as the power of the bolt collides with the ground in Tartarus. I could almost sense monsters dying, only for their essence to drift away to reform. Kronos definitely felt that, and I don't think he liked it. Dematerializing once more, I fly back to Olympus to rejoin the gods.

"... You sure that would work? He is mortal still, it could kill him." I hear Zeus say to the gods as I open the door to the throne room.

"You said the same about the bolt, but he lived through that." I hear Athena say to Zeus.

"Are you talking about me? Also, where did Nico and Percy go?" I ask, causing some of the Olympians to jump a little.

"Allan! You're back... That didn't take long. Anyway, Percy and Nico went back to camp half blood to finish off the monsters that attacked the camp." Zeus says to me.

"Maybe I should go back too." I say.

"No no, it'll be fine, they'll get it under control. It's a pity we lost so many good demigods today." He tells me.

"Yes, a number of my children rest in the underworld as we speak." Apollo tells me.

"I'm sorry to hear that..." I mutter to Apollo.

"Don't be. We have a plan that will avenge them and all who have died because of Kronos. Zeus?" Apollo says.

"Yes. Son, we have a... Theory on how we might be rid of Kronos forever. We intend to kill him once and for all. We're not wishing to just destroy his physical body again, but his essence as well." My father explains.

"I thought you couldn't kill a god, or a titan for that matter. How are you going to do that?" I ask.

"Oh, we're not, you are." Athena says.

"... What? How am I going to kill a titan?" I question.

"Alone, you'd never stand a chance. Actually, you would since you have the bolt, but you're still not able to destroy an immoral essence. So, we've been deciding on how we're going to... Pool our resources." Zeus explains.

"What resources?" I ask.

"Come on child! You're in a room full of GODS talking about how you're not strong enough to destroy Kronos, so we have to make you stronger. Care to put two and two together?" Hades says.

"Wait... You're wanting me to..." I say as the realization hits me like a ton of bricks.

"Son... We want to make you invincible." Zeus says.

"A god." Aphrodite tells me.

"My immortal bro." Apollo says.

The words the gods spoke to me caused my head to spin. It felt like a tornado was spinning in my head, throwing my thoughts all over the place. I thought about how I'd be able to spend all of eternity with Hestia, yet I'd watch all my friends and family die. But if I took immortality, I'd be able to get rid of Kronos for good, something the gods together couldn't do. Before I could stop myself, I clasped my head in my hands and dissolved into wind to float around until I could gather my thoughts together.

"So... Is that an answer?" Poseidon asks.

"No, his brain is just a bit stretched, so he needs time to bring himself back together, literally." Zeus replies.

I float all over the throne room until I spot something sitting in a metal bracket on the left side of Zeus's throne. A long handled weapon with a curved blade. With me focusing on something, my body begins to reform. I finally come together again standing right in front of Hestia's hearth. She looks at me in a way that made me think she was silently asking "are you going to take the offer?"

"I... I accept your generous offer. I'll become your new god and I'll do everything I can to bring down Kronos." I say as I turn back to the gods.

"Good, now if you'll come back to the center of the room, we'll get started." Zeus says as Hera fetches a goblet from another room.

I take my place as the gods circle around me. Zeus in front of me, Poseidon to my right, Hades to my left, the rest of the gods resting their hand on the one in front of them. Zeus takes the goblet from Hera and hands it to me. It looked like a regular gold cup, but it was sealed on the top, just before where the rim would be, as if someone didn't remember that cups needed to hold liquids. As my father handed me the cup though, it's contents moved and I saw what it really was. The cup did hold a liquid, but not one any mortal could have made. The liquid was like molten gold; heavy and shiny, but also like gold colored mercury, the way it sloshed around in the cup.

"Drink this and you'll be leaving your mortal life behind. Once this is in you, your life will be that of a god's. You'll be leaving your friends and family for all of eternity. You'll feel life slow down to almost nothing, day and night will occur in the blink of an eye, and your mortal family and friends will be gone before you know it. Drink now." Zeus says to me.

I slowly lift the cup to my lips as all the Olympians watch in unwavering attention. The metal of the cup was cold, as if it had been in a fridge, but the golden liquid was warm, like the perfect temperature for soup. I can only describe the taste of the liquid as... Sweet but watery. It was as if someone had mixed some honey into water, enough to give it a pleasant taste, but not enough that it was like drinking pure, sugary honey.

As the divine liquid ran down my throat it coated my mouth like wax, quickly cooling until I could physically feel where it settled. I could feel it coating my entire body as it worked its way into my blood. As soon as the liquid touched my bloodstream, I felt like my blood turned to molten gold, burning through my quickly changing mortal body. Zeus obviously saw the pain it was causing me because he reached out and put his hand on my chest, lighting it up in a ball of light, the same used to merge the bolt with my soul. Next was Poseidon on my right, then Hades on my left, then each god and goddess behind them until a large glowing ring surrounded me. I kept drinking until I fished the cup of godly liquid and watched as the goblet ignited into golden fire and disappeared. The gods themselves started glowing a brilliant white light as they showed their true divine forms. As I looked down at myself, all I saw was a humanoid body, but without any features, like a manikin but freely moving. My true divine form. The gods themselves had the same appearance, though I could tell which was which. Each god radiated a different power or feeling, like an ocean breeze from Poseidon, dread from Hades, heat from Hephaestus, a kind of... Tingle in the back of my head from Athena, rage from Ares, calming love from Aphrodite, equal parts coldness and warmth from Artemis and Apollo, and a mix of feelings from the rest of the gods.

As the light faded and the gods returned to their human looking forms, I felt what is was like to be a god. Time seemed non existent, I no longer had to breath, I felt magic coursing through my body, like I could make anything happen whenever I want it to. As the gods backed up, I see that a new throne had risen out of the floor in the center of the room. It was plain, white marble with a protruding disk from the top like a head rest, just like the rest of the god's thrones. Mine was blank, but all the other gods had their symbols on theirs, like a lightning bolt, trident, owl, and a dove. I could feel a link between myself and the throne, like it was the only thing in the world which would allow me to rest and recover, give me strength and allow my immoral essence to stay tethered to the earth.

"When you claim dominion over a part of this world, your symbol will appear and you'll get your own shrine. But that'll only happen when you-"

"When I defeat Kronos. So now that I'm a god, can I do that?" I ask.

"Well, that all depends." Athena says.

"It all depends on what?" I ask.

"If you can find a use for this." Zeus says as he takes Kronos' scythe from the bracket on his throne.

"The scythe... That can destroy an immoral essence? I thought you used it to cut up Kronos the first time you fought him?" I ask.

"We did, but it only destroys mortal essences, not immortal. Which is why you'll also need... These." Zeus says as he waves his hand behind him.

Where your throne once sat now stood a long table with an assortment of items on it. The items were obviously godly as no mortal smith could have made them. Each and every item seemed to draw your eyes towards them, each wanting your undivided attention.

"What are they?" I ask.

"Gifts, from us." Artemis says as she gestures to the other gods around me.

"And... How will these help me exactly?" I ask.

"Well, let's see."


End file.
